To My Beloved Major
by Odeveca
Summary: Written for all of us that imagined Major Gilbert opening the door at the end of the season finale. This begins from that moment onwards. This is the story of a broken Blacksmith, and a certain Auto Memories doll's second chance at returning the Major's declaration of love. TV show based.
1. I love you

**Hi and thank you for clicking on _To My Beloved Major._**

 **Some Things To Note Before You Begin:  
**

 **This fan-fiction was inspired by the TV show on Netflix, but incorporates pieces of the light novel series. I have not read them in their entirety, but I hope to do so some day. I apologize beforehand if there are some discrepancies between both of them, I have tried to remain true to cannon as possible, but in all honesty I am mixing a majority of the TV show with some of the novel series as I see fit.**

 **Like a lot of us right now, I too am waiting for Season 2: Violet Evergarden, and I couldn't help but write this as we all painfully fantasize and dream for that season of Gilbert hopefully reuniting with Violet. Am I right ;) There is more chapters after this one, but I wanted to know what you guys think, guess what is going to happen next, inform me of typos, complain about the character portrayals, or just envisioned for this long-awaited meeting between Violet and her beloved Major. Love you guys, love your ideas, very touching reviews, and I hope you enjoy the outcome of this work of fiction!**

 _ **Summary:** _

_**Written for all of us that imagined Major Gilbert opening the door at the end of the season finale. This begins from that moment onwards. This is the story of a broken Blacksmith, and a certain Auto Memories doll's second chance at returning the Major's declaration of love. TV show based.** _

_**Disclaimer: **_

_**I own nothing, it all belongs to the fantastic producers of anime series: Violet Evergarden, whom gave us a worthwhile story on Netflix, and the creators:**_ _ **writer Kana Akatsuki and illustrator Akiko Takase, of the light novel series. They are the real heroes of this fandom! In regards to my OC's you are free to use them too, just send me a PM so I can read and enjoy it too :) For those that want to translate this story into other languages (wink wink* Guest #1 I see you!) please do at your pleasure. PM me if you have any questions, and I mean any, the more of us that get to enjoy this story the better!**_

 **Footnote:** Anything that is _italicized = thoughts, memories, dreams, singing._ Everything else will be in Violet's third person POV unless stated otherwise.

* * *

 ** _Updated: 04/09/2019*_**

* * *

 ** _"I love you"_**

* * *

Summer.

It was everywhere. It was a humid heat inches above Violet's head, it was the ocean salt breeze that ruffled against Olivia's bright blue parasol, and it tickled the damp stray curls at the nap of her neck. She could feel it occasionally playing with her two red hair-ribbons, a faint memory of standing on the deck of the ferry boat, with whipping wind chaffing against her naked cheeks. It's rough coolness against her skin was a welcome reprieve from the humid hour walk from the ferry to the furthermost east side of Leiden.

"Excuse me!" She called out to one of the men tying his boat to the dock. "But do you know the way to that cottage that is facing the sea? The one on top of the hill!"

"Sure!" A helpful fisherman at the wharf pointed the way out for her as she continued her steady pace up a few residential streets.

From a distance, any passerby could see the iconic blue parasol shading Violet from another sunny day in the Bay of Leiden, and could not remember a moment when they had not seen it taking on another mission to take on another letter. It still surprised her how quickly others could recognize her now.

Despite the occasional familiar greetings from practical strangers, she minded her path carefully _,_ with a labyrinth of confident thought as she passed house after house _. She had learned that life of an Auto Memories Doll was not meant for the faint of heart, but it came with it's little pleasures._

Violet radiated practiced grace and ease, her smile bright as she focused on the stone steps turning to a windy dirt road, trekking through a sparsely made treeline, that led her further to the cottage waiting for her on top of the hill. She continued to ponder the path she had made for herself.

 _The beautiful thing about writing letters, is that for a Doll, she doesn't have to get it right the first time. It was a journey worth taking. It was evolving, growing with the words, memories, and feelings shared between two parties,_ Violet learned that. _All she needed was the time and tools now to see it made complete. Simple as that.  
_

Such as the weight of her hefty typewriter. It felt perfect in the Doll's metallic palms as she trekked the green grass hillside. Violet wished she could feel the comfort of the wood handle against her own fingers, the rough yet smooth texture of wood she remembered still, but she settled for the wonderful weight of the typewriter weighing down on her mechanical arm instead. Her trusty typewriter, _as always_ , kept her grounded to the purpose of this three hour hike to her next client. Her request letter signed _Sincerely,_ _S.K._ with the directions to the residence of the very same.

This morning she had packed two sets of her uniform and set off from the CH Postal Company with an audience at it's double doors.

 _"Don't be too late for Cattleya's birthday! It's in a few weeks ya'now!" Iris and Erica waved her off. Cattleya was too busy with a customer this morning, a secret love letter that needed her special touch, but she knew that her dearest friend would have been there to wave her off too._

 _"Well, your all sisters of the pen, it's no use fighting with family," some customer had once said. Violet liked to think of them as all her new sisters._

 _"I'll try to get back in time!"_

 _"You better!"_

 _That sounded so much like Iris._

 _A smiling Violet had the chance to wave at all three of her sisters from the trolley._

 _Iris, Erica, and even Cattleya showing up after-all._

 _She even caught Claudia Hodgins at the doors, standing proudly over Cattleya's shoulder with that warm smile he had perfected in the last month. She could see that fatherly side of him now, the one he had no reason to be embarrassed of, and perhaps in the not so distant future he would have the daughter he always dreamed of. Violet hoped so, hoped the very best for all her friends and acquaintances.  
_

The memory of their loud and touching goodbyes left Violet with a warm smile on her face. Unlike most days as an Auto Memories Doll, Violet had no problem with holding onto this emotion thrumming through her as she strolled down the well-beaten path to a humble cottage overlooking the sea.

 _Peace._

After finally writing that letter to _her beloved Major_ , her understanding of the words _"I love you"_ felt right in every way possible, _a_ _very peaceful feeling,_ and making _another_ journey to write _another_ series of letters for a client no longer left her uneasy for reminiscing her past. She had a greater appreciation now for remembering the moments she did have with Major Gilbert Bougainvillea.

Raven blue hair and bright green eyes, her world reflected in those eyes, and she thanked whatever higher power gave her photographic memory to keep that part of him with her always. The comfort of his hug the first time they met, sharing his clothes when she had none, taking her to that Thanksgiving festival... she would treasure him until she was old and grey, even when her memories faded, his eyes would never... Violet touched her brooch.

 _"What's wrong?" He had once asked her._

 _She could not stop staring at it. From the first moment she had been enchanted, and perhaps she was always meant to be. "This brooch is the color of your eyes." Violet was glad she had spotted it in the first place. She would always have a part of him now._

Yet, it was a _contradiction_ to say she still didn't imagine the Major had been found. How different she would be, her future be, if he had been there since the first moment she had awakened in that hospital bed after the Battle of Intense. If he had helped rehabilitate with her, for her to know the person he was away from war and death, and if he could see the same for her. The question was begging to be asked. If they had the choice to rise away from the shame of the war, together, _and started their own lives, started a fam..._

"No." She stopped herself, looking up at the cottage that looked even cuter up close.

Despite that dream, Violet had changed throughout these four years as an Auto Memories Doll. She had grown _less lonely_ , she had sisters, friends, a good boss, and most importantly she now understood a great deal more about herself than the fourteen-year-old girl that had followed the Major's orders.

Violet's mouth inched upwards again at the memory of being ordered around _like a tool_ as she met the stone path to the cabin. She remembered the rare memory of Captain Dietfried face, _frozen in disbelief_ , when she outright refused to follow his orders.

 _"Live... and be free."_

 _Oh yes Major_ , _I will, I promise I will._ She had repeated the Major's words with deep satisfaction in herself and the Major's still resonating wisdom seemed to be even greater without his presence there to remind them.

 _"I don't need orders anymore."_

That smug feeling of illiciting Captain Deitfried's surprised face when she refused him. That image would stay with her until the end of her days. Perhaps, the Leidenschaftlich's Soldier Maiden had truly died the moment she was come to understand _the meaning of love_ , and how precious this new life could be.

 _"From the bottom of my heart... I love you."_

Violet wondered on the Major's tear-provoking words, as she usually did, and she felt fuller for some reason. Perhaps, because she understood them fuller now. Even if the questions still came, like insects refusing to stop buzzing. _What the Major would think of her now if he could see her?_ _What he would say for her living her own life, and being free just like he told her to do? Would he be proud?_ _Would he still love the woman she had become? A woman worthy of the name Violet?_

"Yes." She touched the rich aquamarine green pendant on her neck. "Yes, Major." A pleasant memory of Gilbert naming her, and giving her an identity that didn't involve killing was what brought her proudly to the cottage's doorstep overlooking the sea of Leiden.

She knocked on the wooden door.

"Hello, CH Postal Company."

She waited for the client.

The client that The President of the CH Postal Company had procured for her. She remembered his vague mention of a war veteran seeking to write to a loved one, as she remembered the splendor of the Air Show, and the magic of thousands of letters flying all around their group.

What felt even more magical to Violet was that the President- _sorry,_ Violet forgot herself. Claudia was her friend now. After all they had been through, he certainly was. These years had been blessed with so many friends at the CH Postal Company, the faces so endearing, Mr. Claudia Hodgins, Iris, Erica, Cattleya, Benedict, Luculia, and not to mention all the people that she had the pleasure of writing for on her journeys to almost every country of Telesis. So many _heartfelt_ letters. Each one an unforgettable gem in her heart.

Violet found her voice again. "Hello! Auto Memories Doll!" She knocked harder, once again on the cabin's door, hearing footsteps coming closer to greet her.

Violet took a deep breath, being mindful of her stoic face, and hoping that she would not come across too icy or indifferent to her customer. The little thrill of adventure shivered through Violet. The thrill came from the possibilities of writing a new letter, the empowering properties a letter could bring to the sender and the one that would be receiving it. The thrill that came to sharing feelings with others went through her as she heard the person turning the doorknob.

The door opened. "It is my pleasure to meet you." Violet dipped into a deep curtsy, the movement as easy as breathing. "If a client requests it, we shall go anywhere. Representing the Auto Memories Doll Service-"Her breath caught in her throat at the person standing before her, her eyes couldn't help but twinkle. "My name is Violet Evergarden."

The person with the _most beautiful_ aquamarine green eyes nodded to her, opening the door wider. "Please, will you come in-"


	2. Sophie and Charlie

**_Updated: 04/09/2019*  
_**

* * *

 ** _"Sophie and Charlie."_**

* * *

It was a child… _with the Major's eyes._

"Oh wow! Auto Memories Doll!" His childlike fascination overwhelmed her as she passed the cabin's threshold and into the living space. "That's so cool!"

"Yes." Violet couldn't think of much else but the color of his eyes.

"Alright." He shut the door behind her, bowing his head in encouragement for her to step closer to the sofa seats. "Nice to meet you Violet." He was such a polite child, so full of life, it left her feeling dizzy just looking at a painful replica of the Major. _Younger_ , way younger than the Major, young enough that even she could bend her head down to meet his angelic gaze. Dietfried and the Major's mother's had photos of when they had been younger, a certain black and white photo flashed across her eyes, that was the Major's face, there was no way... and yet the child was real, _so real_.

 _"Is the Major Alive?" She had once asked Claudia. "Don't worry Violet, he asked me to come here."_

Had that not been the only lie Violet had been told? Could the Major be alive? Was this his family home? Was this boy...

The boy waved her to sit. "Please sit down on the chair while I get Sophie." He said leading her hand to the loveseat, same black hair as the Major, yet two inches shorter in height than Violet, but twice as excited to see her, as if he had been expecting her this whole time. "Don't move, I'll be right back!"

As for Violet, she just couldn't seem to catch her breath as she looked at the _heavenly child._

She could let alone let go of the flutter in her chest as she sat in the offered loveseat and watched the miniature version of Gilbert Bougainvillea run into another room, shutting the door behind him, and telling _this Sophie_ that she had arrived. His excitement was a frantic one, and her heart mirrored it, galloping like a war horse. Surely her heart had leapt out her mouth as she began to gap, and it reminded her back to the time when she had no words to say.

When she was a child, she had been a shy girl to a cruel world, but once she had been excited beyond belief, believed in the good... in presence of The Major.

 _"Violet. That is your name now, Violet._ "

The way the Major had once said her name, breathing life into it when she knew little of it's meaning, and not once had she had ever expected he already had history with naming other children.

Especially, _his own child_ , her mind shrieked in alarm and delight at the prospect.

 _She had just seen a little boy with his eyes!_

The day seemed brighter now as Violet imagined a room filled with the Major's children. Even a house filled with his progeny, all with his eyes, such a beautiful color, and perhaps that meant anything that wonderful was a possibility now. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise, perhaps she could still keep some living and breathing part of him, Violet dared to hope.

She whispered to the room, not able to keep it in any longer. "The Major? Did you have a son? Did anyone know?"

Violet's hopeful spirit raced against her rational mind.

The scariest theory was that she had perhaps died before getting to the cabin, and was just now only to be greeted by Gilbert's younger self.

No, no, no, that was too far-fetched, especially for someone as rational as Violet. _Perhaps, the first then, perhaps she was looking at the Major's son?_ A part of her did the calculation in her mind, six years ago, the boy seemed to be around six to eight years old. That would have put the Major at seventeen when he fathered him. She had never heard mention of the Major getting married, let alone having a child out of wedlock. Still, "The Major's son."

There was no denying it.

The door opened, and the Major's son and his Sophie greeted her.

"Welcome Violet Evergarden." Sophie bowed lowly. "I am Sophie Kenway."

The Major's son immediately copied the young woman, his smile so bright it melted her heart, and his cheeks a gorgeous cherry red. A child's glee. Violet was sure that an explosion would have went off and she still couldn't seem to stop staring at the boy.

 _"Miss Evergarden?"_

"Yes." Violet stood to repeat the same curtsy to Sophie and the Auto Memories Doll's declaration that seemed to spread the same joy to woman dressed in a Maid's outfit.

"Well, I guess it's true. You Dolls really look like dolls." She joked, patting her white bonnet. "Who would have guessed it?"

Violet set down her typewriter on the low-lying table, setting the writing mood. "Did you send for me? Are you the war veteran sending a love letter?"

"I would hardly call myself a war veteran." Sophie rubbed the back of her bonnet again tucking wayward pieces of dark hair back in place. "I haven't been in a battle for… well I would say six years." She revealed, patting down her Maid's outfit, bright blue dress, white apron, and white bonnet. "I wouldn't know the first thing of what they boys in green are doing these days. Well," she blinked, pausing. "Have I offended you? Sorry, sometimes I get ahead of myself."

"No, it's just you reminded me of someone." If it wasn't for the limp in her step Violet would have mistaken this new face for a raven-haired and blue-eyed version of Erica Brown. A book lover with big eyes hid behind bigger glasses.

"As for my letter, I wouldn't call it so much a love letter…" Sophie pushed her glasses further up her nose, "more like a letter of appreciation from one comrade to another if you would permit."

"Right. Let's get started," Violet unfolded the case around the typewriter, the movement fluid. "Would this living area be preferred for the writing space-"

"Oh no don't bother!" Sophie waved her hands, clearly frazzled. "But please make yourself comfortable- my letter can wait, you just got her after all, there is no need for a rush," she chuckled, embarrassed, handing Violet a letter with her name on it. "This is for you." Now it was Violet's turn to be frazzled. "It's from the President of the CH postal company, your boss, _Mr. Claudia Hodgins is that right?_ "

"Oh." Violet opened it, reading it quietly and quickly.

A little hand came into Violet's vision. "What does it say? Do you have to go back? Are you leaving us?" The boy was so close now. Peppermint, smell of fresh clean clothes, and with sweaty little boy hands. She could make out the flecks of mud on his rather pale neck and chin. Something in her wanted to reach out and wipe it off.

"Give her some space Charlie, we already talked about this, don't get fussy over her." Violet had forgotten he was even in the room and had failed to notice that he had just tried to climb over her shoulder to try to get us a better look at her letter. She watched him sulk as he was sent off. Now he was occupying himself with a game, a pout she would have killed to see on the Major's face again.

" _Violet?"_

"Yes-" she responded a bit too quickly.

"Oh I'm sorry." Sophie touched her face in embarrassment, her eyes closing while she smiled. "I'll get us some tea while you get through reading that." Said Sophie. She whom stiffly stood and went into the kitchen, getting a kettle and warming water for them both. "Does Lemon Tea sound alright to you? It's all we have here."

"Yes, please." Violet's eyes were busy following Claudia's instructions, and occasionally stealing glances at the Major's son whom was playing a snapping game on the table before her.

Sophie came back with two cups of hot tea, setting one before Violet, and the other for her. She sipped it slowly, a quiet soul, but that growing smile was entirely new for most war veterans Violet had the pleasure of writing letters for. Her jittery legs… _one_ _was made of wood._

"You caught this old thing." Sophie tapped the leg made of wood playfully. "This happened ages ago, I got it shot off during the war, was there just minding my own business, when BAM! I was thrown fifty feet in the air, had to be hospitalized for three months. I think you can agree with me that is the worse part, and then having to do therapy when all you are itching to do is get back on the field and do some real work."

Violet gave her a sympathetic smile, and Sophie caught something in that smile. "Oh, I get it, I get it. They say we have to give the rookies a shot too, but try telling it to someone that only knows trenches and staking out the lay of the land, oh listen to me, I do just go on." Sophie offered kindly. "You can get me to stop anytime if I get too chatty." When she caught Violet still looking at her leg, she hiked it higher to show that the crude looking prosthetic went all the way to her knee. "It really isn't that bad. It makes hiking a downright horror, but I get around just like any one else. I'll show you when the sun gets lower."

"She can run fast too. _Really fast_." Charlie whispered getting his toy that had fell under the table. "She's not supposed to, but she wins all the races." Unable to sit still for their small talk."Just wait, she can even beat _you_ any day, just remember, I told you." He winked with charm, and then suddenly took some of Sophie's tea and in the process burning his lips and tongue."Gah! hot hot!"

Sophie took it carefully from his hands, placing it far enough away. "Charles! What did I tell you about slowing down?!"

He hissed at the pain on his tongue, racking his fingers across it. "I'm sorry Sophie, I forgot."

"Try to behave." Sophie scolded him, but Violet could tell her heart was not really into it. "You don't want to give Miss Evergarden a reason to go back, home, do you? Give her stories about how you don't behave in front of guests?"

That made Charlie behave in an instant.

They chatted a bit about the hour it had taken Violet to hike to the cabin.

"It is really no problem at all, I like hiking, I would go plenty on missions I would take." Violet was terrible at making Sophie believe her, she seemed to have it in her mind that she had worn herself out from the brisk hike up the hill.

"Oh you finish your letter, before I interrupt again." Sophie brushed her assurances off. "Then you can finally rest. You can take a nap in one of the room if you like? You don't have to bother about saying no I already prepared one."

"It is really no problem at all." Violet jumped into the letter, determined to see what the fuss was about.

After she had finished reading Claudia's three-page letter, Violet drank a sip of the hot tea, and she was sure she looked like an emotionless ghost compared to this exceptionally joyful young lady that sat before her, waiting for her reply.

Charlie was leaning towards her too, reminding her so much of Miss Ann, and she would bet the boy was about to ask what happened to tea she drank if she was a doll. _Where does it all go?_ Miss Ann's curious voice leaked into her memories.

"Charlie!" Sophie caught on to his lack of personal space, and Violet's strong reaction to it. "Why don't you get your mother to come down from the Big House? She should be finished with her duties for today." Sophie offered, and Violet almost chocked on the hot tea burning her throat.

 _His mother? She was alive? She lived here? Did she know what happened to the Major? Did the Major live at this Big House? Where was the Big House? Was it close?  
_

"She's busy Sophie." Charlie brushed her off. "Besides." He said so maturely for a child. "She would only put me to do something. I already finished my chores, and it's a Sunday, can't you do it?" Violet was beginning to believe he had a bossy streak perhaps even a bratty streak to him too.

"She wants to be here Charles." Sophie left nothing for him to work with, a glint flashing against her glasses and her rather icy eyes when she wasn't smiling. "The Headmistress should know where she is. Tell her that our guest from the CH Company has arrived, and she is ready for introductions to be made." Sophie gave Charlie the first angered look of the day. "Or else you can tell your mother that you misbehaved..."

"Alright, alright, I'll be right back." Charlie sighed, giving a friendly wave to Violet, that returned it without a second thought as she saw him leave through the door that had changed her life.

"Charlie is better behaved on most days." Sophie muttered. "But he seems to like you very much. Are you good with children Miss Evergarden?"

"I don't have much experience." Violet was honest.

"You'll get your fill of them here, you'll be an expert by the time you leave." Sophie said kindly, as if she expected her to stay here long enough to meet the _many children_ she hinted of. "It's just you've been the talk of Seagrave Orphanage for the past week, and I guess the kids got Charlie rallied up to be the first person to welcome you here. It's not every day we get a Doll, let alone a famous one."

That caught Violet's attention. "Orphans? There's more children here?" She closed Claudia's letter containing the information of the same place, of her _real_ client's intent of sending for her.

Sophie bent her head to Claudia's letter. "Didn't you read your boss' letter?"

Violet theorized the only option to be. "He did inform me I would have to go there after I finished your letter. So, The Seagrave Orphanage is here? I thought I would have to journey there after finishing with your letter"-

"Oh no, didn't the letter say that you would be staying here? With us?" She seemed to sigh as if Claudia did a bore job of informing her. "I already prepared your room, you will be staying here while you write, if that was no too forward-" Violet had read the letter. Claudia requested that she would be writing letters on behalf of the Seagrave Orphanage for the orphans themselves, but she assumed it would be back in Leiden, not here, and she had not spotted an Orphanage from the path coming up here.

She asked of the Maid, her prestigious outfit suddenly inappropriate for a cottage. "I didn't see an Orphanage, is that where you came from-"

"It's on the other side of the hill." She nodded over her shoulder. "A thirty-minute walk from here. Charlie will run in fifteen minutes to get there, the Big House is right next door to it, you be surprised how close all buildings are, you could hear the races Charlie was talking about even from here." Sophie rolled her eyes as if this was a daily occurrence, tapping her wooden leg to the floor. "So, in the hour we will get a visit from Charlie's mother, the- well I will let her introduce herself. Is the tea to your liking Miss Evergarden? I tried to make it piping hot, but sometimes I get so impatient with my chatting, and it gets cold..."

"Oh yes Miss Kenway, it is perfect." Violet took another warm sip and then opened the case of the typewriter. "Would you like to get started now on the letter? We should have enough time to write a rough draft."

"Oh please, if you must. Don't let my chit-chat stop you."

Violet began taking off her brown suede gloves, revealing her mechanical arms that Sophie only grinned at as if she already expected them. "Who is the letter going to be for Miss Kenway?"

Sophie rubbed the back of her head, looking far more embarrassed than before. "Well, this might come as a surprise for you, but it's for a very good friend of mine."

"Yes." Violet turned the knob at the base of elbows for writing, her metallic gears shifting, and making Sophie stop speaking. "Go on Miss Kenway, I can keep up, let's start off with the name the letter is intended for." She was reminded of Leon, and how capable she had become in writing letters proficiently and timely when made to do so. She felt prepared for anything veteran Sophie might ask of her, even if she did talk more than most, but she was accustomed to the workload of the chattier ones.

Sophie released the air in her lungs. " _Alright_ , you asked for it." She gave in, starting off. "The letter is for Gilbert Bougainvillea."

Violet's fingers froze on the keys.


	3. You're Gilbert's Violet

**_Updated: 04/09/2019*_**

* * *

 ** _"You're Gilbert's Violet."_ **

* * *

"So, you did know him." Sophie nodded in agreement at Violet's awfully tormented eyes. "You did, didn't you?"

Violet could not find the strength to answer her. Instead her memories did it for her.

 _"You were the first person that was kind to me."_ That first hug he had given her, that kindness had set him apart from the rest of the would be deceivers and bloodthirsty men of War. It had lasted only a moment, but it was a lifetime of moments now, each one brighter as the years went past.

 _"You were everything to me."_ Oh how the words killed her to think of now. The sweat and dirt of a forsaken battle field. Slicing through men as if she was born to do it, and then turning to make sure he had survived with her. How many times had she _turned_ to make sure? How her breath caught in her chest, and then how quickly it settled when she knew they had made it safely out.

 _"I want to know what you are_ _feeling. I want to understand what is in your heart."_ That sadness in his eyes, that desperation that she only knew now as pity and heartbreak for letting her live in a world without the need for words like _beautiful_ and _love_. He had wanted so much for her. He had wanted a life that was worth living, perhaps for the both of them.

 _"Even though we are apart now... I... love you."_ How easy the words came to her now, and how wrong it would always feel to never be able to tell him. It devastated Violet, she was sure this strange woman, yet fellow soldier would understand that feeling. Devastation. It shared with all those that lost life and took in the name of War.

She did know. "I am so sorry." Sophie continued through the awkward pause in their once so easy conversation. "I'm sorry for saying it like that, so brazenly. It's just, I heard so many different stories from different people, and I had to be sure. Now I just feel terrible asking you to come here." Sophie took off her glasses, brushing tears from her eyes, and putting them back on to finish earnestly. "Because you're Gilbert's Violet. It is plain to see with your reaction."

If Violet was frozen before, she was a statue now.

She had analyzed Sophie far too quickly, had not prepared herself for this conversation. Claudia's own apologetic and long-drawn out letter had not even prepared her for this.

"I'm not, well I…" Violet bit her lip from saying too much.

"You have to be." Sophie leaned forward in her seat, an anxious neediness in her voice. "It's obvious the bond you both shared, something like that can't be fabricated. Things like that can bring a person back."

 _Did she mean? Was that person?_ "The Major?"

"Yes." Sophie nodded encouraging her, as if this was the point all along. Something told Violet that it certainly was. "You can bring him back Violet Evergarden. You can be the key to unlocking the parts he lost. The parts that were taken in the War." Sophie's fleshy hands became fists, and one came down on her wooden leg. "You are-" Sophie seemed to hold back. Violet could see it it the way the Maid bit her lip, shoulders tense, ready to bolt to run, to comfort, she had no idea, she was sure the Maid felt the same. "At least we could get something back from this War."

"I don't understand what you are telling me." Violet told her. "I don't know _why_ you are telling me this." Before coming to this cabin, Violet had just found peace with accepting that she might never again have the pleasure of seeing the Major in this lifetime. Now that feeling was gone from her. Sharing the presence with a person that loved him too, mentioning his name again with so much passion… it was as if Sophie's words sliced right through the fresh bandage, clipping the sutures, and hitting her right where the pain had all began. "What could you possibly want? What could you gain?"

"He's alive Violet Evergarden." The Maid answered wistfully. "I know it sounds crazy, and many others have told you differently, but it's the truth. It's your truth, I am just sorry you had to get the news from a stranger. I bet you would have wanted ten other different people here to break the news to you, but it seems like I am the only one willing to tempt fate and give you that chance."

"A chance?" Violet clutched her chest, fiddling her precious brooch like a lifeline. This seemed... like a lie. "No."

"I am telling you the truth-"

"You're wrong." Violet stopped her. "You don't know anything." She could not believe her, she _would_ not believe it after the lengths she had gone to get the truth herself. Violet had _finally_ come to terms with it, she had cried for hours, grieved for him. That was no something that she could easily forget, it was not something she wanted to relieve all over again, only to be disappointed again. She couldn't believe this strange woman's need to try to break her like this.

"He died at the Battle of Intense." Violet said through gritted teeth, the words tasted like rotten meat in her mouth. "He died right in front of me, they couldn't find his body, and I've come to accept that." She is twiddling the Major's brooch until it was all she could focus on. "But I am who you say I am." She could no longer deny it, nor did she want to. She would honor his memory, honor his love. "I am his Violet. Even if he is dead." Perhaps, that made it even more final. "I think I always will be." She held back the tears, she would have time tonight when she would be alone to feel the damage her words inflicted. "Is that why you asked about me? Because we both…" She held back from saying the word. _"Cared for him?_ Is that why you are doing this to me? To see if you can get to me? To get a reaction? Was this all a game."

The Maid Sophie didn't answer at first.

"No Violet." Instead, she shook her head softly. "That can't be farther from the truth. I mean you no harm." She looked wistfully at the painting of a ship on stormy seas, as if she was trapped in it. "So, is it true you no longer _care_ for him? Did you never care for Gil?"

Violet could not answer that, not to her.

"I see." Sophie clutched her apron in her hands, a sick look coming over her features. "So, correct me if I am wrong, but… you don't love him anymore? That you weren't in love with him to begin with." Violet didn't answer, and so she went on in her presumptions of her relationship with the Major. "And I bringing you here was a mistake? That you moved on, and want to get on with your life. Am I wrong?"

 _Where is she getting this information?_ Violet was sure someone must have put her up to this, Dietfried, or some other would be war veteran that held a vendetta against her. In the end it didn't matter, she wouldn't give into this interrogation.

"Well that is a pity to hear." Sophie continued on wistfully, perhaps a bit upset when she slapped her lips in the painfully silent room. "A downright tragedy."

Violet felt her cheeks flush with mortification or anger, perhaps both, well, definitely both, at being called out so callously, being told that the Major was alive when he wasn't. Despite these emotions, the battle-hardened Doll chose to remain polite for the CH Postal Company. However, to call their history a tragedy, the insinuation that she was ungrateful to the Major's sacrifice and love, that callous assumption just pushed Violet over the edge.

She maintained a slither of calm, it was all she had left. "I would prefer not to get into that private discussion." She held her head higher for a moment, even as Sophie's face fell at her refusal to answer the simple question. "I came here to write a letter, not to share personal information with someone I only just met."

Sophie clucked her tongue, leaning back in an air of boredom. "I guess your right. Silly me, I had only hoped it wasn't true… it's a shame when hate-filled people get the last laugh. I'm not going to hear the end of it, he loves proving me wrong-" that was the last straw.

"But I did love him." Violet spoke up, tired of her dark ramble assured in her declaration as Sophie brought up this unknown opposition. "I didn't know it before, but I do know, and I still do. I love the Major with all my heart. It's the one thing I do know." She said in a breathless delight, her chest rising and falling under the inspection of this like-minded veteran of war. "So can we just continue please, and leave this matter alone."

"You do love him?" Sophie perked up."Still love him?" She was priming to the ears with excitement in her twinkling grey eyes.

"Of course." Violet's felt herself burn at how sick she felt at having to prove it to a stranger. "He was the most important person in my life. I can't forget him, and I won't." Violet took off her other glove, not so overwhelmed with it all that she had proved those naysayers wrong, and ready to complete the mission to get back to the safety of her room and pillow. She set her mechanical fingers on the home keys. "If you are finished… I think we should continue this letter-"

"Sure." Sophie sat a bit taller as they reached an understanding, reaching up for her bonnet again, fixing some imaginary hiccup in her otherwise immaculate attire. "Let's start simple. How about, Dear Gil." She took off her glasses, folding them, and setting them on the table, she looked different with them off, more confident, less flustered, and entirely not herself.

"I did it you bastard." Sophie said with unveiled mirth. "I am sitting in front of your flower girl and I am convinced that she is far too pretty and sweet for you. Even without the arms, she would give your amnesia stupid brain a run for its money. How I wish I could be there to see your face when you meet her again… Are you getting this down?"

"Yes, I'll remember." Violet had not pushed a key on the typewriter, too enraptured by Sophie's casual yet alarming words.

Sophie continued on, "If you ever do get your memory back, I want you to remember this moment as how I repaid my debt to you." She looked at her nails, polished and red, and inspecting it closely for Maid that would ruin them on her easiest day. "I brought her back to you, even if you never remember it, let the record stand that I fulfilled my end of the bargain."

 _"Your bargain?"_ Violet found her voice.

"Oh yes, a bargain well struck." Sophie said, taking off her bonnet, the raven locks around her forehead seemed to recede, revealing pure grey hair peeking through. The color a near perfect match to the grey tinge as her eyes. Wise eyes. Too wise to be as young as Violet first thought. "We made a bet when he was just a little boy."

"What type of bet?"

"I'll tell you, I'll tell you, be patient." Sophie said coyly, ripping off the neck piece of her Maid's costume, breathing out at the release from it. "We bet that if one of us ever lost ourselves to this War..." She put it slyly. "That we would make sure to take good care of each other's things and loved ones." She waved a hand to Violet and then to the front door. "Dietfried." She growled his name. "That lovely pain in my ass, loves to make me work for my promises." Her following chuckle sent shivers down Violet's back. "He beat me to the punch by taking Gil before I could properly see to his wounds at the Battle of Intense. All this time, he was in a detention facility across enemy lines, nasty buisness to break him out, but what pissed me more was that they wouldn't let me see him." She chuckled darkly. "I would have tore Dietfried a new one, but… then I learned about you." Their eyes met.

"I learned all I could about you Violet. A bit of an obsession these past months I'm afraid." Violet hung on every part of Sophie's words. "And I was sure from what I heard, what I gathered…" She clapped her hands. "You were the best thing that ever happened to Gil. He truly did love you. I could see it in all of Deitfried's snide conversations, see it in the way you stalked every memory of Gil, the gossip those girls at the CH Postal Company stirred me, even your boss' letters to Gil's mother, let me tell you I have never seen a prouder boss I will tell you that. You could get away with murder if you wanted to." Violet mouth became dry, and Sophie was not even far from done. "And that is when I knew I had to bring you both together, even if it isn't the same." She said glumly, upset for some reason, the devastation rolling back in. "It's funny what this War did to us, taking the best parts of ourselves. I am just glad it didn't take that part of you, at least one of us can get a happily ever after, don't you say?" She smiled brightly, her eyes crinkling as if she was trying to remind herself that this wasn't something to be sad about.

Violet was too alarmed to be happy now, still stuck on one first part, one thing she still couldn't understand. "The Major is alive then?" Then came the second part. "Why didn't Captain Dietfried tell me? Why was I kept in the dark?"

"To spite you I am guessing." Sophie said, winking and taking off the raven locks together to reveal a bob of pure grey starlight, _her real hair._ "Sorry I hate wearing wigs, it was getting hot underneath there. But, as I was saying, for Dietfried, I am still surprised you are breathing. He grew quite capricious after he was sent to boarding school." She giggled as if there was a joke there. "In his teenage years he was a little monster, a little and a lot of his father's temperament separated him even more from us, but we both knew Gil was the baby, too soft for this War, Dietfried and I knew that." She leaned over to gulp the tea in a quick swig. "Ah! Perfect. So yes, Dietfried wanted to make you suffer for not saving his brother that must have been it!"

"I know." Violet said quietly, no longer space in her to be surprised. "Dietfried said as much."

"Dietfried is worse than a bastard, born and bred into it, don't forget it." Sophie threw the wig of raven hair and bonnet to the corner of the room, shaking her head free to brush a hand full of grey starlight hair. The color caught Violet's eye, her youth mixed with something so old, she knew this woman had seen things. "But the bastard likes you." Sophie said flippantly. "He saved you from that island, didn't he? Let you go after all his so called crewmen tried raped you, and in the end forgave you for killing them too. Hell, even I would forgive you after your history of abuse. I even heard about your most recent adventure." She gushed as if she would have killed to be there. "He let you join him on that little train ride with those enemy assassins trying to start this nasty War again. Well, _there you see it_ , if that isn't forgiveness I don't know what is…"

"How do you know all of this?" Violet brushed past the alarm to finally ask. "Have you been spying on us?"

Sophie deflected. "I am a crippled thirty-year-old woman." She winked playfully. "I couldn't be a spy even if I wanted to…" She shook her head, the grey bob hugging and brushing against her cheeks, this look suited her more. "But today is about you Violet Evergarden, so finish my letter with a lovely little saying or something. It doesn't really matter to me." She confessed. "As long as it gets to him, and your the one to give it to him, okay?"

"Yes it does matter." Violet had to know Sophie's story, her whole story. _How did she meet the Major? How did she even know all these things? Was she still working for war leaders?_ "Who are you really? What is your game?"

"Let's just put it this way, I'm someone you really don't want to get on the bad side of okay?" She giggled, pulling off her dress.

In a dramatic flair, her unveiled dress showed short pants and twin blades that were hooked on both of her still flesh thighs. Sophie was not embarrassed to show off her weapons, or her thighs. Sophie, _if that was even her name_ , had come prepared for a fight, hiding her weapons under her dress since the moment she had first met her, and Violet felt her gears in her own arms shift anxiously at the brutality this Sophie displayed at pulling each blade out and laying them on the table, appraising both before putting them back in their holsters.

Sophie didn't attack, only raised one of the blades to Violet, offering. "Would you like one?"

Violet eyed the blade as if it was a viper ready to pounce on her. "Why would I need one?"

"Why would she need one." Sophie giggled as if she found this all very funny. "Aren't you just precious. Dietfried never said that you were funny." Sophie pulled off her opposite boot for a smoke and lighter she had hidden inside. "You don't mind, do you? The Duchess and her entourage are coming, and I would rather be calm and collected for what comes next?" She puffed repeatedly, she had done this many times. "All this buisness after socializing always gets me jumpy. Blame it on the nerves but I don't have much of those these days. It's more of a little thrill of when I was much more capable. You can't blame me, some people like the quiet life, and some people like us, well... when opportunity knocks right Violet. We knock them right back."

Violet could care less about the smoking or this talk about buisness with a Duchess. She knew trouble was coming, Sophie reeked of it. "Knocking?" Violet was surprised with how calm she sounded. "What comes next Miss Kenway?"

Sophie blew a puff of smoke from her cigarette. "That all depends if you let me do my job." She confessed, lifting her wooden leg and exchanging it for a blade-like foot, "your good Samaritan act almost cost your life on that train ride to nowhere. It might cost ours if you try to do again." She patronized, but Violet knew what she was looking at now. She was a weapon. Sophie was reaching deep under her dress and providing a sufficient look at what she was about to bear witness to. The dangerous metal leg glinted off the candlelight, no more sunlight, and the sun setting since meant that they must have been talking about her life for hours. _Why had Violet's senses become so dull? How did she get into this situation? How could she be so stupid?_

"Don't worry Vi." Sophie de-ruffled her inconspicuous Maid's dress, hiding the weapons beneath once more, she knew how to put her mask back on. "This is all very legal buisness you see. I am within my bounds as a keeper of the peace for the Vivace family. The Duchess paid for me to come for this little visit." She waved a hidden pistol in the air. "I am meant to be carrying and if the occasion permits carefully using this weapon of choice."

Violet forgot there was a typewriter entirely, focused on the offensive weapon, and the dilemma she felt was sure to come.

"Oh don't make that face Vi! I can call you Vi can't I? Oh, guess I will. Don't worry, I'm not going to shoot you. That would be very stupid of me to do that when I went through all the trouble of reuniting you with Gil." Sophie said rather quickly, "no need to apprehend me for doing my job." Sophie knew whom she was speaking to, a glimmer of excitement coming out of her eyes. "From one battle doll to another, we need to stick on each others side through all these stressful times. It's been awhile since I had someone on my team." She remarked playfully. Violet was just now understanding what type of killer she was speaking to, one that was painfully at ease with maiming or even killing if the opportunity should arise. "And I am not going to shoot the precious Duchess either, she's the one I'm supposed to make sure survives all this mess."

Violet felt it only fair to ask. "Then who are you going to kill?"

"I received word that someone was planning on killing the Duchess Vivace and her entire little Orphanage." Violet felt her senses go on high-alert at her vicious words, Sophie seemed be at peace smoking her cigarette as if they had seconds to spare. "Leaving no child or man alive, including your Major beyond the hill. He or she would have got away with it too if I hadn't come to your rescue." Sophie pointed the pistol at Violet, dismissively before preparing it. "And their plan was to leave the blame on you, clever plan, but they forgot to factor me in."

"I don't believe you." Violet said after a beat of a moment. She was sure no one would trust someone like Sophie Kenway.

"Then you are going to have to trust me." Sophie said, standing smoothly, and aiming at the door. "Because if you really love the Major you will do anything to keep him alive? Wouldn't you?"

"You can' be serious-" Violet was paler than ever before, the sweat building at the nape of her neck.

"No time." Sophie cursed at the sound of gravel crunching underfoot. "Get ready we have company." There was a group of footsteps meeting the door, a loud racking that left nothing to the imagination, and Violet knew this would not end well.

A soldier or officer began barking out a command. "You are under arrest Sophie Kenway! Exit with your hands above your head, no weapons or we will be forced to open fire!"

"Well that's not fair!" Sophie tucked her weapon into the folds of her less than simple Maid's dress, going to a hole in the window to see her mark, and aim her pistol through the windowpane's dark glass, aim at the target beyond. "When we both are weapons! We could kill you all with our eyes closed."

"Sophie wait." Violet abruptly stood up as Sophie turned off the pistol's safety.


	4. Oh Captain, My Captian

_**Updated: 04/09/2019***_

* * *

 _ **"Oh Captain, My Captain."**_

* * *

Nothing happened.

Nothing happened for a complete minute.

A minute was too long for Sophie. "Well! What are you waiting for? If you are going to shoot." She demanded. "Shoot us you big babies!"

"Sophie no." Her taunting was sick, the capricious tone did things to Violet's insides. It reminded her too much of the distorted bravado of once brave men turned unfeeling monsters, and that dragged others into first blood and into a crossfire most foul.

"What is taking them so long! Probably trying to make a perimeter of the cabin. The damn bastards." The Maid Sophie, now revealed battle doll yelled louder to get there attention. "There is no back door if your looking for it!" She said from her hidden place beside her chosen window facing off to the dark sea of Leiden beyond. "Scared of two little dolls, please come on right in!" There was danger in her smile, and cold dread flushed through Violet at the insanity running through Sophie's eyes.

"Don't do this." Violet was not sure whom she spoke to, Sophie whom cocked her gun to the ceiling as Violet edged closer, or the soldiers that were shouting off a countdown. Perhaps, she even meant it for herself… to stop whatever her instincts shouted for her to do. To slam her palm over the gun's barrel, to shove Sophie away, tear the gun from her hands, to bend it to metal shreds, and stop any bloodshed, all bloodshed.

That once so inherent feeling to stop the inevitable death coming their way, it seemed to want to swallow Violet whole. She reigned it back, she had a heart now, her own mind, not a tool, _not a tool._

"I already told you Violet. I am saving the Duchess, I am saving lives." Sophie's wrist cocked the gun back out to the target outside the window, more determined in her aim, the soldier in her knowing that Sophie intended to end another person's life and would do what she wanted if no one stopped her.

"You can't kill." Violet lived by this now, knowing that peace was greater than what they were taught. "I won't let you do this."

"Can't you see? I am saving you." Sophie pleaded through gritted teeth, a drop of sweat going down her face. She repeated as she marked her target outside the window. "I am saving you, Gil, Diet, hell all our friends by the sound of it. You'll thank me when this is over."

"No death is worth whoever it is you think you are saving." Violet dared, fisting her metal hands into twin death grips, not wanting them to reach out to harm Sophie, but she had to in order to stop her, and in a quick turn the gun was between them instead.

"What are you doing Violet?"

"I have to." Even if she did not want it, Violet knew how to do it. It would be easy to disarm Sophie, easier than slicing butter to get Sophie to submit to this crazy mission. To hold her down, push the gun away, and her feet couldn't help but edge closer to the gun, and Sophie tensed.

"Don't try to stop me Violet." She knew exactly what Violet was doing.

"I have to." She repeated.

A grim line became Sophie's smile. "You really don't get it do you? These aren't orders Violet, I am doing this because I want to." Sophie said with eyes far older than Violet's, ones that had seen so much more that it only confused her more. "I am doing this because I must."

She pulled the trigger.

Sophie shot the pistol... _Only after she turned to the window_ , aimed, and fired as she intended.

"No!" Violet launched herself the moment Sophie successfully took her second shot, the bullets making holes through glass, and then they were both on the ground struggling.

Sophie was stronger than she looked.

It was as if she knew every move, and a better one that Violet had never seen before. Violet was more frustrated, because in a few seconds she was thrown over Sophie's shoulder, probably bouncing like a ball, and feeling just as used.

It shouldn't be surprising when Sophie's arm encircles around Violet's neck, her legs constricting against her torso, and her breath hot in her ear. She was a boa constrictor and she was not loosening her grip, even when Violet lost her strength, her breath. "Yield Violet." Every bone in Violet resisted her, refused to be tamed, refused to stop struggling, and then she all but cut the circulation in her throat, and Violet gagged. She heard her heart in her head as the room became blurred.

"YIELD VIOLET!"

Violet's vision was fading.

"YIELD!"

"Get off her!" Before the oppressive black could take Violet's vision completely for the first time in a fight, a very familiar, and very pissed off face lifted her up in his arms, letting her breath return and her senses.

"Captain Dietfried?"

It was him. There was no doubting the hatred he could yield in those lime eyes of his, too sour for his own good, and he did not hold her longer than was necessary.

"Stupid Tool." He muttered as he searched her face, his face scrunching up, before adding quickly. "Violet are you able to stand?"

"Yes." She added quickly too. "Captain. I can." It appeared that the lack of oxygen had reduced to her to her old self. "I'm fine."

"Good." he pushed her to the side, far enough that she was leaning against the couch for support. Captain Dietfried wasn't the type of gentleman to help her adjust to her momentary loss of consciousness. Just because they didn't outright hate each other didn't mean they would ever be friends, and let alone at a time like this; when an auspicious stranger had brought them together. Violet was sure that the day Dietfried was ever kind to her would surely be the end of the world.

"What were you thinking?" He accused her.

Violet fumbled with the excuse, but the Captain's glaring question was not meant for her this time.

 _It was for Sophie._ The shockingly grey haired, stormy eyed, and one-legged soldier was his glaring focus. "How could you do this? How can you stand yourself?" His questioning was directed so forcibly to Sophie, too much familiarity for it to be between strangers, and it appeared her story of sharing _history_ with the Bougainvillea brothers was true.

"Hello Diet." Sophie's voice was small for the first time, it seemed so unlike her, her eyes so warm to be looking at the cold-hearted Captain. "It's been too long, how you have grown Dietfried, so tall, so hand-"

She set him off. "No thanks to you!" Violet had never seen Captain Dietfried so unhinged, and to top it off she felt like she was somehow responsible. As if the things she shared with Sophie would come around and bite her tentative peace with Dietfried. Violet hoped not.

"Oh, you don't mean that." Sophie opened her arms. The half-present Maid outfit was a sorry excuse to hide the assassin before them. Even with the gun gone, slid far across the room, she was no less dangerous. "You really meant to say that, I know you missed me Diet-"

"How do you know what I mean? You don't know anything. You don't get to even speak about our family." He shot right back at her. He condemned her more harshly than he ever did Violet. "You had eight years to rot and think on the things you did to my family, and now you pretend like none of them even happened- No! Wait!" He growled as she was tackled by a running soldier, her once so strong body was jostled onto the ground at being so distracted by the Captain's unanticipated presence, apprehended by Dietfried's men, cuffed, and forced to her knees.

"I said not to hurt her." Dietfried growled at the soldiers, that froze under his command, and surprising Violet even more.

"Not to harm me-" The hope in Sophie's eyes had not died, if only grew into a shimmer of confidence. "Did I get him Diet! I didn't get the chance to look." She reminded them on the person she must have fired at. "I couldn't be sure because Violet knocked me down-"

"Silence traitor." Dietfried gritted through teeth, his tone changing in front of his men. "Your little escapade from prison is over."

Violet was not sure she could be more surprised than she was now. "Prison?"

Sophie gave Violet a close-eyed smile. "Guilty!"

So, Sophie had left out she was a felon. That just set off a whole other round of questions in Violet's mind.

Captain Dietfried was far from finished, and not worried with revealing information in front of Violet. Not worried with anything other than having his say with Sophie. As if he had been kept from it too long.

"You are done running away." Dietfried said to Sophie. "I won't let you get away with anything this time. You can be assured of that. Someone gag her."

"You _would_ gag me." Sophie agreed with mirth, the mouthy side of her that Violet was beginning to know was just her character. "Good to see you too Dietfried, you haven't changed, perhaps got a little bit handsomer, a bit like your father in that regard wouldn't you say-"

"Don't _say_ another word." Dietfried grinded his teeth. "Or I will do it myself." He repeated with so much venom even Violet herself felt inclined to leave the room, leave and get away from a situation she had no part in being in the first place.

"Did you gag Gil too?" She was talking about the Major. "You were always were the controlling one. How is he by the way, enjoying the life of a sweaty Blacksmith is he-"

"Not another word!"

"You mean not another word in front of Violet." Sophie corrected with increasing giddiness. "But Violet already knows. So why the delay? Why can't you share Gil with us? You embarrassed of your little brother now?"

"You're a snake." Dietfried growled and ordered his men to pull Sophie to her feet, the soldier's hands a vice around her forearms.

"I didn't deceive you or Gil, remember Diet, don't you remember. The orders I had were not intended for your family, you and your brother were innocent in all this. I never meant for anything bad to happen to you, you must know that, know that I loved both of you, as if you were my own-"

Dietfried touched the gun at his side, his voice low, dangerous. "I should have put you out of your misery years ago."

Violet remembered Sophie's story, everything she had said. "The Major."

"Don't listen to her Violet." Dietfried heard her trance-like mention of the Major, Violet had never heard him use that tone before. It was distorted and soft from the normal Dietfried she knew. "She is only trying to get into your head, it's what she was trained to do. Weren't you." It was not a question.

"Born into it I recall." Sophie muttered as it was chaos to even say. "I was influenced by my surroundings, but aren't we all? You really need to let it go Diet, you know what they say about holding grudges-"

"It was more than that." Dietfried argued, informing Violet. "She was trained to bring empires down, _influence_ certain outcomes. How do you think we got into this War in the first place?" Dietfried's body came between Violet and Sophie completely. "But she isn't doing it again, no one believes your lies. You are going back to where you belong." The female inmate paled at the talk of the prison. "I'll make sure they give you the _best_ treatment."

Violet knew all about that. "No."

"Violet, she can't be trusted-"

"She is telling the truth." Violet argued.

"She is trying to get into your head."

"She doesn't have to get into my head." The Auto Memories Doll in her spoke up, the new Violet knew much more than the Tool he thought her to be. "There might have been a time when I wouldn't have understood, when I couldn't understand when someone was lying to me… and I just know now." Violet looked over to Sophie, her grey eyes flickered for a moment too. "I know when people believe in their words."

"That doesn't mean she is right Violet."

"Let her make that decision Dietfried." Sophie butted in on Violet's behalf. "You don't have to control her too."

"I am not." Dietfried cut that conversation. The same way he cut into others down that did not align with his expectations. "Violet is not my concern, she never was." He clarified without any of the emotion from before. "Not that it's your business, but she doesn't even need me to tell her about what type of person you are, she knows exactly what you are, and to stay far away from people that manipulate and tear others down."

"Oh." Sophie chuckled at the upset soldiers hanging around her, upset with her blatant disrespect of their superior officer. "Like you did in the War? The way you commanded others to tear others down while you watched, like that? What would you know about being used Dietfried? Your a spoiled little Prince that was fed with a golden spoon you don't know the first thing about being taken advantage of."

"You don't need to know what I did, or what I have been through." Dietfried remarked in a hushed voice. "Violet does not need to apart of this. She is better off living the way she does now."

"Oh, she is?" Sophie was not abated, Violet was not sure where she got the gall to talk to Dietfried like that. She was sure this was no new development when she launched into more of her beliefs. "Does saying that make easier to see the hurt in her eyes? To keep hurting her, and you call me the monster!"

"I did it to protect her."

"You are rationalizing your behavior because you are full of yourself Dietfried. You think you can play dictator and get away with it? Well, that is just so nasty of you Diet, you are more toxic than all of us combined and you know it." He did not challenge her, and that surprised Violet even more. Sophie's voice calmed a bit at seeing this too. "That's the only reason why you kept Gil from Violet because you are sick, and you know it." She sniffed the air, as if she could smell something foul. "And you don't even feel guilty about it, I think that is the worst part."

 _It was all too fast and too much._

Violet found her chair before she collapsed from the ground, the one Major's son had once offered her not so long ago, dropping her overwhelmed body in it. She couldn't stand up for something like this. They had told her the Major was missing in action. The Major was likely dead, his bones under rubble and soil, and the possibility of his return was not meant for conversations like these.

But it all made sense now, her presence here, some divine intervention or a cruel joke.

"The Major is alive."

They stopped talking. The Major's brother remained frozen. To Violet, Dietfried's lime eyes remained hard, unyielding in that way she had first questioned him about he Major's death, but he did not correct her or Sophie's beliefs on the Major's life.

She demanded of the Captain. Her azure blue eyes on fire. "He is, isn't he? The Major was always alive!"

"Violet I was going to tell-"

"Don't." Violet clenched her thighs, feeling her chest tighten and ache from how real this all felt, she had to hold the sofa seat, get some bearing before her vision faded from the pain, the pain caused by him. "Don't finish that sentence."

She was not prepared for things like this, the emotional abuse and manipulation she had received at the hands of Sophie Kenway had shaken her foundation and stole something from her. Something else told her, something of her years in the war told her that this _far more experienced_ battle doll turned inmate, by chance escapade, had done the same to a juvenile Dietfried, and the same to a child Gilbert, _her Major…_

"Well, isn't this just touching, Dietfried does have a heart." Sophie seemed to enjoy what she saw. "But really… were you serious about the gag? Love to see you get kinky with me." She dared an inappropriate wink, and that was his pushing point.

"That's it." Dietfried got a lace dolly from the couch and walked towards Sophie with motivation to fulfill his threat. "You will regret saying that _you wench_."

A female's voice cut in. "That will not be necessary Captain Dietfried Bougainvillea."

"Attention! The Duchess of Vivace!"

The soldiers saluted her.

The woman's heels clicked past the threshold, followed by different soldiers, these dressed in bright burgundy and bright white uniform, the colors of Vivace. A country that laid to the east of theirs. Known for their horses, vineyards, and lush produce. The Duchess of such a place, walked into the humble cabin with such confidence Violet was surprised she was not flying.

The Duchess said. "I must apologize for this misunderstanding Captain." Her accent was regal and marked her as part of the reigning nobility. "But you see Sophie Kenway came at my insistence."

"Duchess." Dietfried was straightened his back, a ripple of that familiar soldier etiquette coming into his voice. "Please stay outside. I have everything under control."

"I can see that." the Duchess marched up to Sophie's bruised face, cuffed hands, both braced against her back. "But I must ask you to remove those restraints on Miss Sophie and return to your business of the dead man waiting for you outside."

"Yes!" Sophie exclaimed in delight at her kill. "Long live Vivace! Long live the Duchess!"

"Silence." Dietfried looked ready to murder her.

"Yes." the Duchess bent her head. "The would-be murderer was apprehended. So your services are no longer needed Captain." The Duchess Vivace was not like anything Violet had first imagined. "You may return to your duties elsewhere."

"But the inmate Sophie Kenway." One of the soldiers barked as the Duchess and the Captain appeared to dueling with their eyes. "We can't let her go Captain, we had strict orders from General-"

"This is the Vivace embassy lands." Dietfried clarified for his soldiers, turning his face away. "We can't detain her here, we must abide by their laws."

"But Captain-" The soldier sputtered.

"That's common law soldier, stay outside, and wait for my directions." The lone soldier, and his three comrades, did so at Captain Dietfried's command, more upset with the bruises they got from a rather smug and still bound Sophie. Even with her bound hands, she blew them a kiss to irate Dietfried's men all the more.

"Thank you Captain." The noblewoman spoke up, stealing the attention of the room. "Thank you for being an honorable gentlemen, and respecting my rights. I am sure I can speak to General Graves personally about this matter, he has tea with my husband and Uncle on occasion. His wife is very lovely woman, she shares my views in buying shares for Textile-" The Duchess said, and Violet was stolen with the grace she gave in those words.

"Yes. That would be best." Captain Dietfried nodded to her, and gave nothing of the warmth the Duchess gave to him.

Violet sized the Duchess from head to toe.

The noble woman appeared closer to Violet's age for starters, youthful in the air around her with envious deep golden-brown curls, bright gold eyes to pair it, and a rather distinct birthmark on her upper lip, as if someone had given her a brown kiss to her rather full lips. She did not wear a fancy romantic ruffled dress as the Princess Charlotte did during their letter meetings. Did not have a love-struck expression like the Princess would have had in the presence of the Captain either. Instead she wore a pair of bright red trousers, and a white satin blouse.

"And you will remove these restraints from Sophie." She finally commanded of Dietfried. "Immediately."

"Yes Duchess." Captain Dietfried bowed stiffly, commanding his remaining two men to release Sophie, and relieving the stress from the room.

"Well lower your weapons too." The Duchess, commanded playfully to all the men. "So we may have a civilized conversation. As of this moment, I revoke any charges Sophie Kenway has attained as a prisoner of war, and have adopted her as a citizen of my country. Here are the papers from my husband the Duke, signed in his hand. If you have any more questions you may take it up with him, is that understood?"

"Yes Duchess."

"Well, then we can part in good faith, can't we? Thank you for coming at my insistence Captain."

The Bougainvillea Captain bowed his head.

One of her guards cursed outside, bringing their attention to the cabin's empty door. "Stay outside Master Charlie! Your Mother told you!"

"Mother, Mother!"

In the blink of an eye, their stiff stalemate was interrupted by a bounding boy, out of breath, and with huge aquamarine eyes, upset no longer at the sight of the Duchess and the Captain speaking with one another. "Uncle Dee! Uncle Dee! I knew you would come!"

For a moment, Violet thought Captain Dietfried would ignore the precious replica of Gilbert, or perhaps some part of her had hope to see him freeze in fear at the sight of Charlie as she had felt the first time they had met.

She no longer had energy inside of her to be surprised when Dietfried gave the briefest of nods to the Charlie, and then exited the cabin with his men, leaving Sophie, herself, Charlie, and the Duchess of Vivace; his mother, alone.

Charlie looked devastated. "Mother why did he leave without saying goodbye?"

"I know." She rubbed Charlie's head affectionately, if Violet had been hurt by Charlie's striking resemblance to the Major, she wondered how powerful an impression he had made on Dietfried who had loved him just as much.

"I want him to stay, don't let him leave Mother." Charlie pulled on his mother's trousers. "Mom."

"I know darling." The Duchess looked at a freshly released Sophie. "Did they hurt you?"

"Barely a scratch."

"You would say that." The Duchess tipped her head to the door. "Charlie's right. Don't let him escape Sophie, I still would have him and his men come up to the Big House, and have a early morning meal with all the trouble it took him to get over here." She told Sophie Kenway, that nodded to her Duchess and went after Dietfried and his men, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically for her own good.

"Pardon the tense family reunion." Said the Duchess to a remaining Violet. "You must be Miss Violet Evergarden, pleased to meet your acquaintance." The Duchess addressed her, and she gave Violet her hand.

"Your Grace." Just like Charlotte, Violet kissed the noble woman's ringed fingers, a bit more used to the concept of genteel tradition after her time with Kingdom of Drossel and it's nobility. "Thank you Duchess Vivace for coming to our aid." Violet bowed after kissing her hand, a poor imitation of Dietfried's bow, but it was needed after the things Dietfried had been ready to do to Sophie.

Charlie giggled. "What did she do that for? Why did she kiss you for?"

"Oh dear." Duchess reached out again, but this time it was to firmly shake hands with Violet. Violet felt her cheeks flush, that had been the Duchess' intention. "It is lovely to see that you came, despite under these circumstances. When Charlie told me you had come, and that Sophie had bid that he get me alone, I knew it, that the killer was in our midst. I can't say how thankful I was that nothing went wrong. Even with my son wrapped up in all the danger." She gave a look to Charlie that shrugged to her innocence of it all. He got that mischief from Sophie, perhaps his mother did not know how much time they spent together in the first place… and the effect she would have on his so young mind. "Charlie told me you were lovely, but he forgot to tell me how lovely of a character you are. If you can get Dietfried to care about you, well after the story he spun us, then you truly are a woman worth knowing."

"Thank you, Duchess." She stopped herself from bowing again.

"Oh, don't call me Duchess, or Your Grace. I don't let anyone call me that."

"Alright." Violet felt the distinct impression that _no_ one said no to her.

"Oh, I am not mad for you saying so, please, let there be no formalities between us. My name is Melanie, but my friends can call me Mel. You can too if you like." _Mel._ It seemed to informal for a Duchess like her, a modern woman it would seem, and she came with overwhelming modern ideals in both dress and fashion. She had never seen a woman in trousers by choice, and these seemed to be made custom for her own figure, she meant to look this way. Very modern woman.

The Duchess seemed so alien to Violet.

Violet was sure it would surprise people to know that she felt _less uncomfortable_ with the felon and retired battle-doll Sophie Kenway, even if she was a deadly weapon on both the outside and inside. At least she understood a part of her, could get a vague notion of her feelings, but Duchess of Vivace was a creature with a beautiful composed face. One that had been taught how to calculate her emotions in front of others, and not to share as Violet had been so used to her in her day to day life.

"I want you to feel welcome here Violet, any request that is within my grasp, ask of me, and I will see what can be done."

Her words were so hard to grasp the motive behind. She only furthered this by refusing to state her own thoughts.

The Duchess explained when she caught Violet watching. "Sophie told me about all the things she learned about you." She was probably aware of Violet's wariness to a conversation after a murder and the scene Dietfried and Sophie had caused, and most especially the the bomb of Gil's survival and livelihood meant to her. "Such stories I have heard of your travels. I can't imagine half of them ever happening, but all my husbands' sources validated it as true." She expressed with a pleasant enough smile. "If you don't mind me saying this." She drawled, her smile wide with bright white teeth, but not reaching her eyes that remained cool and composed. "I feel as if you are a true human being of the kindest regard." She shared a look with Charlie, that too was happy that she thought so. "And that we have already become good friends."

 _"Friends?"_ That threw a usually composed Violet off.

"Would you like to be my friend Violet?"

"I apologize." she started off carefully. "I apologize if this offends you Duchess Melanie, I mean no disrespect." The Auto Memories Doll stated cordially, not wanting to enter this unknown space between respectful and suspicious, but she had to. "But we have not met before. I don't know if the stories you have heard about me is enough time for us to become friends. I am not sure if I am ready to trust anything after the things that have happened."

"Interesting."

"What is Mama?" Charlie held onto the Duchess waist, and Violet was reminded about the relationship the Duchess must have shared with Gilbert, and perhaps that is why there was a hidden glint in her eye that was more obvious now.

"That is exactly what Gilbert told me when he came back from the War."

* * *

 **Did you guys like it?**

 **Promise to have Gil in the next chapter, and I think that is enough teasing for this story.**

 **Thank you so much for reading love you all for giving this story your time and consideration,**

 **Have a wonderful week,**

 **Odeveca**


	5. She was home

_**Updated: 04/09/2019***_

* * *

 _ **"She was home."  
**_

* * *

Turbulent thoughts torpedoed through Violet's mind.

The dawn hour had finally come, after a very tiring night, _it had come_ , cutting through the western rolling hills, and the ridge of the mountain beyond, touching their moving forms as they walked in communal silence along the path of dirt cut into the hillside.

Violet Evergarden had so many questions as she was led away from the cabin, and only felt overwhelmed by more questions after Captain Dietfried and the Duchess had stolen into her meeting and letter writing with Sophie. The Duchess wanted Captain Dietfried to join them too on this short walk back to the Big House, despite the unease that hung in the air around him, Sophie, and Violet, she had still insisted.

"I will return." Captain Dietfried had said to her, "there a few things I have to clear up with my superiors, but I will come back." He promised. The Duchess permitting him to do so only after returning his upset and tire soldiers back to the base, and reporting back as he said he had to.

"Don't be a stranger," was the Duchess' veiled command.

"I won't." His last glance had been for Violet.

She was not willing to return it.

"Violet." The Duchess woke her from her memory. Duchess Melanie was the first to speak up as they turned the bend, not near enough to see the Orphanage or Big House. "It is a very nice morning isn't it Violet." She delved when Violet did not respond. "You don't need to hold yourself back from us, you are free to speak about whatever it is that bothers you, you are safe now, the danger is past."

"Yes." That was the best Violet could do.

The Duchess sighed beside her as they walked the path to the Seagrave Orphanage. "Peaceful isn't it. This place. Even with all the trouble, it is beautiful." She looked out at the hillside with love in her eyes. "That is why I have come to love this land beside the Sea. Especially in the summer, can't stay away from it even if I tried, many have tried, and look where we are now. What about you Charlie?" She asked her son that was nestled against her neck and held in her arms. "Do you want to go back home?"

"Never, Mama." He tucked his tired head into her shoulder as she held him, yawning, and closing his eyes. The trudging of a dozen Vivace guards following them. Spent and too tired to speak as they did and saving whatever energy it was to watch over the three women, and the young Master Charlie.

"What are you thinking of Violet? Are you still overwhelmed by it all?"

Violet did not know what to say to the insistent Duchess.

As she walked beside the Duchess, her son in her arms, a trailing Sophie Kenway, the guards, and the whole audience of people walking leaving the Cabin of Revelations, she kept her thoughts and wishes secret, and so they made the trek higher and beyond the grand hill overlooking the Sea. _Truthfully._ Violet was still lost. _How could she not be?_

"It is alright if you don't want to talk about how you feel." The Duchess said. "I am sure Sophie's questioning and meddling is enough for one day. Did you know she used to be a professional investigator and interrogator?" She looked back at the culprit she thought was the change in the kind and lovely Violet she had only heard praises of. "But she did not have my permission to reach out to you. Would you believe me if I told you no one can control a force like Sophie? Even if I asked nicely. Some people just don't take what I say seriously."

"Duchess." Sophie bowed her head and lagged further back in respect.

The Memories Doll dared not touch her brooch, not now, it was too intimate. Keeping herself from touching it, felt like a weight she could shake off, especially when they were walking in the direction of this ever-elusive Seagrave Orphanage, and… _The Major._

"The Major?" Violet whispered a bit glass-eyed.

"Hm." The Duchess looked back to Sophie when Violet could not answer her. "The Major? Was that someone that came with Captain Dietfried? I don't remember a Major."

"No Duchess Vivace." Sophie explained. "Violet speaks of the younger Major Bougainvillea, her Major. That is what she calls him."

" _Her Major_." The Duchess echoed. A rather wondrous look going through her face, for once an emotion that clued in that she shared this appreciation for the same man. "Of course, I never told you the story of how I met the Gilbert did I? Did Sophie tell her story to you yet? She didn't." The Duchess could tell from Violet's puckered lip, obviously unaware of another grueling one of Sophie's stories.

"I did not get the chance to tell her Duchess Vivace."

"Only to render her mute I see."

"It is an unfortunate circumstance Duchess, but it was needed." Sophie spoke up for herself. "She had no idea that the Major Bougainvillea was alive, and that he has been with us for quite a while. She only knew as the public believed, that he was not found after the Battle of Intense. She believed that his body was never found, and so she feared the worse… the news was too much for her, and so I had to refrain myself from breaking the even more news to her already overwhelmed state."

"How terrible, why was I not made aware of this Sophie? You said that she was already made aware of Gil's well-being and his staying here."

"Dietfried did his job well Duchess. He is the one to blame."

"I see." The Duchess sighed deeply. "You poor thing. How could anyone keep you in the darkness?" The Duchess declared, momentarily rubbed her head against a fast-asleep Charlie. "I am so sorry Violet. If I had known, this all must be too much for you. I won't pressure you to hear stories that would cause you pain. You must forgive me my happy spirit. I had assumed you had come to be reunited, and I had almost dropped all regard for propriety, and decided to bring Gilbert to the cabin with us. What a mess that would have made-"

"He's here"- Violet muttered impatiently, finding her voice. "He's here at the orphanage?"

"He's here." The Duchess echoed. "The Major, _your Major_." She said warmly. "He has his own home beside the Big House, the one we built him, but he stays with us most nights." She motioned down to a tuckered-out Charlie. "He feels most at home here with us, and so perhaps that is why you have never seen him to go to city life of Leiden. Not that he cares to go, he is- _well._ " She lowered her voice. "I'll let you see for yourself."

"Is he?" Violet had to ask. "Is he well? Is he happy?"

"Most days he is content. He loves spending his days with the children, Charlie especially." The Duchess added with pride. "But, there is a part of him, a part that I cannot understand." She seized up as she looked around this bend, and surely there it was.

The Seagrave Orphanage was there waiting for them.

A mammoth of a building, countless drawn and closed windows faced them, six stories tall, two L shaped structures that came together to a pinnacle shaped tower in the center, this was no mere building. It was a Palace.

The Palace had an open square in center of it, a pavilion of a gardens lit by twin rows of lit lamppost, of artistically cut rose bushes below them, daises and tulips of all colors, and the centerpiece was a rather ostentatious water fountain of cranes taking off in flight. Stationed in the front of massive mahogany double doors, were drawn horse-pulled carriages waiting for some reason amongst the calm and otherwise quiet building. It appeared to Violet like a Palace for the Vivace Royalty, a place for grandiose gatherings and parties, rather than the other meager and dilapidated Orphanages she had seen in the city of Leiden.

Violet felt less tense looking at it. "Your home is beautiful."

"This used to be my husband's childhood home, the Vivace Summer Palace." The Duchess revealed, fixing Charlie on her shoulder, she was strong to have carried him like a small child the whole way here. "We both thought it fitting that we give it to the children of Leiden after so much strife between our nations."

"The Duchess is a saint." Sophie piped up. "There is a reason why I have been loyal to her all these years. She is a mother to all the children. The best of royalty, if we needed a Queen it would be her-"

"Sophie, please, stop teasing." the Duchess blushed prettily. "Go inform the Headmistress that we have returned and then join us at the Big House after you get some rest too."

"As you bid me." She flicked Violet's hair before leaving. "See you around Vi."

"Forgive her nature." The Duchess remarked as they moved on, leaving Sophie to make her way to the wondrous building by herself, Sophie did not walk, she skipped, as if the realm of gravity could not hold her.

The Duchess caught her looking. "She is too much Violet." She confessed. "I swear one of these days she will cause too much trouble for me to save her from. Well come, now I will show you _my real_ home."

They walked towards the sea, close enough that Violet was sure that the home would have been on the edge of the cliff, but as they made it around the bowl of the hill, not ten minutes, stood a structure that surprised Violet even more than it should have.

The Big House, was not big at all.

It crouched low into the grassy embankment of the hill, as though it were trying to hide, but the slate roof was too large to go unnoticed. Through the darkness, she could see the coarse, unevenly sized proportions of it, but it was as large enough to house a family she supposed. The grey stones that made up the walls looked strong enough to keep the cold out. As she got closer, the occasional flash of color - some blues, others green or brown- emerged from the grey stones that looked like eyes trying to steal a glimpse of the world. It was expensive, Violet thought, not fitting for a Duchess, but it had certain qualities.

The Duchess warm gaze revealed much. "It's not much, but it's our home while we stay here."

Violet noticed it was just the three of them now.

The guards must have their place at the Seagrave Orphanage, perhaps knowing none could come this way to reach the Duchess without view of the Palace's windows, only the cliff-side seemed to be another entrance to the Big House, and an assassin would have to be downright crazy to get by that way.

"It's perfect." Violet said, as they came closer getting a better look.

Hedges, vines, and honeysuckles and so much more crept amongst the southern wall. A green gate with paint falling off was the door to the property. Then came a narrow dirt path with small pebbles to the off-white door, a tiny pond with lily pads and a few ducks, maybe a frog or two. A two-meter hedge surrounded the property. Vine grew up the archway and the arched front wooden door with brown plank porch. The grass was green and yellow in some spots, scorched by the hot, blazing sun in the summer. Two huge trees, one with red and orange leaves, and the other a great Oak. The Great Oak had a swing and appeared hollow through the hole in it. A family of squirrels could have lived there.

"Violet." The Duchess whispered to her, only because it looked like Charlie was about to wake, and ruin whatever little they time they had alone to speak to one another.

"Yes."

"I should point you in the right direction before we waste more time." She pointed in the way they had come, beyond the grounds of the Summer Palace, to a stretch of dark green she had not seen before. The tree-line of a tall pine enroached forest.

"He lives over there. There is a cottage before you hit the forest, and Gilbert should be awake by this hour. Could you get him for us?"

Violet was sure the Duchess knew exactly what those words would mean to her, grateful that she was being considerate enough to let this reunion be only between them.

"Yes, thank you, I will see him immediately." Violet agreed, her mind not yet processing her words.

The Duchess reached out a hand to squeeze Violet's shoulder, and turned to her house, taking Charlie with her.

For a moment Violet froze. The Major, she knew now, knew that he was alive, and he was here, _he was close, finally within her reach,_ and her feet did the rest.

Her heart did a gallop in her chest as she left behind the Duchess and her son, the tiredness of the night leaving her senses as the sea wind from the cliff rushed past her face, and in that manner she all but sprinted the way to the tree-line, not caring whom saw her wild dash.

The envious dark green of the evergreen trees was lit by the rising sun, but that was not what caught her attention.

It was what stood in front of them that made her daring sprint turn to a little jog.

The small cottage was perched on the plain near the woods, so old and poor that it was surprising how it was still standing. And yet it seemed alive and welcoming. Two pairs of mud-soaked boots at the door, piles of the front lawn's grass cut and mowed from the earth, and a warm ribbon of smoke rising from its single old chimney. The walls were made of the same wood and the roof was clearly stone, so old that it was a wonder how it did not yet cave in. The cottage was the only thing here, and she hoped the Duchess had been right in her directions.

There were no other houses around it to ask, and this one would have looked abandoned if not for the smoke.

"Major." She reminded herself, and walked up the front door, knocking before she lost her courage.

The door did not open, she knocked again, louder and yet less confident.

"I'm changing Charlie!" Came the exasperated voice of the Major answered her. Mirth in his voice. "Have patience remember, like your mother told you."

Violet whispered in fascination. _"Major."_ That was the Major's voice.

She would know that voice anywhere, and her fidgeting on the steps became almost unbearable. She wanted to break the door down. This wanting to tell him that she wasn't Charlie, that surely dressing up meant nothing when she could see him again, look into his eyes, and tell him what her letter never had the chance to. Her mechanical hand almost broke the brooch just thinking these things. That she knew what he meant now, knew how precious they were, _that she loved him too_ … and then the self-doubt set in.

Stronger and worse than she could have imagined.

 _What if he doesn't want to see you?_ The nasty voice in her mind said. _What if he knew exactly where you were this whole time and still decided to keep his distance? That his words of love were only meant for that moment, that just as much as you changed, he changed too. That maybe, after these years to reminisce, he regretted having the Tool that followed his every step, and wanted a life that he wasn't constantly reminded about his bloody past?_

A more horrible thought wormed it's way into her mind.

 _What if he doesn't remember you?_ Sophie said that he couldn't remember his past, that he was broken. _What if he doesn't recognize who you are? That he doesn't have a memory of you?_

"No." She stood firmly on the steps, not daring to run when she was so close, and knocking insistently until he opened the door. "I am not going anywhere."

"Charlie, I told you to have patience kid-" Someone pulled the door open, and she felt air leave her lungs, and as her gloved hands cupped her shaking lips at man that stood before her, silhouetted in the warm glow the fireplace crackling behind him.

It was the Major.

His green eye widening at the sight of her, as if they were back at the Battle of Intense once again, and she knew for sure that he remembered _exactly_ who she was.

His hand on the door slacked off when she took a step forward, Violet freezing once more, and for a moment they both did not dare do anything else.

He straightened for a moment under her gaze, and began grasping the door tightly.

Violet shook her head at him as if to say ' _please don't go'_. Her eyes, were not the only ones leaking tears. He was too. She cried because he was so real, and so alive compared the Major of her memories.

It was him, the Major, _her Major_ , and yet it wasn't.

The first thing she noticed was the color of his eye. _Only the one._ It was still the same emotion invoking color, the one that swirled with the blue and green, the color of safety, of calm understanding, and a selfish need to never be parted again from it. _Beautiful._ His other eye was covered by an eye-patch, a leather one, that hid a faint scar that barely touched the side of his nose. He had been shot there she reminded herself. _That terrible moment of pure fear._ He was shot in the eye, shot in his waist, and possibly so many other places, because she had failed him, the battle wounds that haunted her dreams still.

"It's you." He was the first to say, as if he could scarcely believed it. His voice sounded hurt she noted, as if she had been the one to shoot him all those years ago. "It's really you."

"Yes, Major." She could hear the congestion in her voice, not caring to hide it, or the tears. "It is me."

"After all this time." He left the comment in the air.

"Yes."

He growled out, his fist coming up to brace against the wall, and Violet did not know what to say to her Major.

She noticed this was the first time she had seen him out of uniform.

 _We are no longer in War._ She reminded herself.

His civilian clothes were that of a plain white button-up shirt, dark weathered trousers, a black apron of heavy looking material, worn for working the blacksmith's forge that the Duchess and Sophie had mentioned to her. It suited him, and yet it didn't. She half expected him to still be wearing the same Major's uniform, blood still stained on it, and for him to be much younger. He looked older now, seemed older. Lines creased on his forehead where there had been none, and a faint stubble along his chin was new. His hair was longer too, touching his shoulders now, made him seem a bit more roguish than his clean-cut look when he gelled it back, but she could care less. He was older, a grown man now. _Of course, he would be older_ , some part of Violet's mind registered, _it's been over four years since the last time you saw him._

"You've changed." He read her mind adding. _"You've grown."_

"So, have you." She said right back, surprised how her thoughts came out in the first place, and not sure if she should say more.

The Major just stood there, _only_ looking at her. His refusal to act, just made the anticipation worse.

She felt just as confused as the first time they had met, and then she decided to throw all security to the wind, remembering what he had once given to her, and so Violet rushed into an embrace, tying her hands behind the frozen muscles along his back, and her face met up in the wrong place as she hugged the life out of him. Now she was tall enough to rest it against his chest, and hear the wild heart beat against her ear. It was just as wild as hers.

"I'm here now." Was her vow to him, hoping that would make him react more positively.

She calmed a bit when he settled his hands on her shoulders, the ones that had protected her, saved her from the deadly blast at the Battle of Intense, and then her heart galloped again when they reached down, and squeezed along her lower back.

Violet sucked in air, because _now she_ was the one being hugged.

"You're real. I can't be sure anymore, am I dreaming? Is this another dream?" He bent down to whisper in her ear, the excitement in his voice, and those words made the frustration and fear leak away. "This is real? _Violet? Please tell me this is real."_

"Yes." She wiped her tears on the apron, soot marring her cheek, and she looked up at his expectant gaze, at the lovely color that she stared at every day in her brooch, mesmerized with how it came alive in his remaining eye. "It is."

She was home.

* * *

 **I hope that you guys liked this chapter a bit more :)**

 **I would love to write more, but wanted to see who would be interested in that.**

 **I can leave it here, or continue on, whichever you prefer, tell me if you thought this reunion between Gilbert and Violet was what you were hoping for.**

 **Again, hope you all have a wonderful week,**

 **love to hear from you all,**

 **Odeveca**


	6. I'm Paralyzed

_**Updated: 04/09/2019***_

* * *

 _ **"I'm Paralyzed."**_

* * *

 _Violet's arms were gone._

 _There was so much blood. So much blood dripping from her swinging stumps, mixing with the blood from the Major's bullet wounds, pooling on the piece of stairwell they had stopped once Gilbert refused to be carried further. She could not stop looking up the steps, at the ascent they would have to make, her survival instincts screaming to hurry. What made it worse it that he had asked her to run, asked to her to just leave him there, and save herself. That caused her far too much anxiety for a battlefield like this, made it impossible to focus on anything other than his escape._

 _"I swear." She had to tell him, reassure him. "I am not going to let you die." She knew that as the only truth, the only thing that mattered. He would survive this, no matter the cost._

 _Violet still had her body to lift his up, she would use her teeth if she had to. She would do it any way she could. That was how powerful her will was, how much he mattered._

 _She used her teeth now, biting on his shirt, pulling, getting him up a bit from his hunched over position, maybe if she did it harder, clench, pull, pull, pull his shirt!_

 _"Stop."_

 _Maybe if she leaned back, clenched her teeth tighter, put her back into it, she urged herself, 'put your back into it'._

 _"JUST STOP!"_

 _Violet fell to her knees at his order, panting, dizzy, but waiting for his command all the same._

 _"You have to live."_

 _What? It was as if she was in a dream, not believing what he was implying, that she go on and he stay._

 _"Violet." Her brains stopped for a moment, he tried getting up, but his boot slipped on the puddle of blood on the steps, he was too weak, he knew it, she knew it. "You have to live. Be free."_

 _No. She would never leave him._

 _He gave her a look, a look as if that was the last time he would see her._

 _This was the part that killed her._

 _The part that haunted and sparked the flame. He had tears in his eyes, why, why Major, he said. "From the bottom of my heart." It was hard to see him now, her mind making the dreadful calculations that he wasn't going to get out, that the soldiers would come, they would starve the Major, they would be tortured for information, and she would not be able to stop them. Her vision was becoming clouded with her own tears, his words reaching her even now. "I love you."_

 _"Love?" She was looking at her older self from above now. Her younger self had been so confused, aimless, and broken in so many ways. "What is love? What is… love? I don't understand! Major!"_

 _Future Violet had tears in her own eyes. She knew. She knew now, but it was too late._

 _Violet knew what came next._

 _The ceiling caving in when the bombs went off, the death pillow of dangerous cloud that would come down the stairs, but instead she watched the Major's face, as he sweat and panted in front of an emotionally inept younger Violet. His breathing dragging out to a wheeze, and future Violet sobbed hysterically as she watched him die a second time._

 _"MAJOR!"_

 _"MAJOR!"_

"I'm here Violet. I'm right here."

"major?" Violet's eyes flashed open as her fuzzy mind awoke to four soot filled walls of Gilbert's home on the fringes of the Vivace Summer home. There was a crackling hearth for the one-room hut, it caste the room in a warm yellow glow, and it showed her confused and traumatized body pushed up against the Major's own, and on the only piece of furniture, a cramped little cot. It was just her… and the Major.

She looked up to catch the fire of the hearth in his eyes. Her sweaty hands nestled on his roughly draped chest as he cradled her, rubbing her head that was now free of her braids. Warm, sure fingers that brushed again her head, and then the cool bare skin of her neck. Tenderly. The Major was for once her shield against her darkest parts of her memories.

She could feel every inch of him. Violet forced herself to keep her eyes fixated on the howling sea wind against the hut's door. She had never let anyone this close, yet she found herself imagining his hands drift lower to caress her breast through her Auto Memories outfit, only a few layers of clothing would separate him from her, imagined her teats tingling as he rubbed hard thumbs over them. With a great deal of effort she banished that different _feeling_ from her mind.

It left her stomach... _aching._

For some reason she stiffened against him. "I'm sorry."

"No, I am sorry." He released her gently, so she could cover herself with the lone blanket on the cot, it was suddenly colder in the room, after his warmth seemed so roughly taken from her. At least the blanket smelled like him, she brought it up to her nose and mouth, and inhaled.

The Major went back to the folded chair he had been sitting on as she slept, her silent sentinel.

"I wanted to let you sleep, but then you started screaming. Were you having a bad dream?"

"Yes." Violet muttered, not wanting to revisit it. "How long was I asleep?"

He reached to take off his blacksmith apron, a rough looking piece of black leather, underneath a white soot dirtied shirt. "You slept for five hours. Charlie and Mel came to check on you but left when they saw how deep you were sleeping. Mel was worried you wouldn't feel-" The Major rubbed his eye-patch, pausing as he looked at Violet before turning away. "That you would feel uncomfortable being alone with me."

"Why would I feel uncomfortable?" Violet bit back a bit forcibly. Upset that no one had awakened her when Mel had come to visit. She felt that he was trying to hide something, even now. She had yet to understand all the reasons and barriers that had brought and kept him from her. _Frustrating._ "It's not like I understand any of this. I still don't know what happened."

Now the Major did not have words for her.

How the roles had reversed.

Violet had asked him two questions before she had closed her eyes to merely rest for a moment. Two questions that had rendered him mute.

 _What had happened at the Battle of Intense, and what had kept him from reaching out and contacting her?_

"Do you, do you have hard time-" She edged nearer to him, her hands clasping the side of the cot, and her knees from underneath her dress touching his, well almost touching. He leaned back as she neared, almost as he could sense her unease, despite her need to get closer. Was she so easy to decipher or had he an affinity from so many years in close to years in the trenches, and in crowded war meetings. "Do you have a hard time remembering what happened?" She touched her own eye, and he mirrored her, touching his eye-patch as if he was now understanding.

"Oh that." His eye finally met hers, the shimmer of blue green made her heart stutter. "That isn't the part I have a hard time remembering. I remember pushing you out of the way." Violet nodded, that had been the last memory she had before waking up alone, wondering when she would be reunited with the Major. Who would have thought it would be five years till that date? Not Violet that's who. "I remember the enemy finding me and taking me away for questioning." The forehead between his eyes scrunched up, as if reliving the moment was too much. "I don't remember you anywhere near me, and so I think the blast separated us."

"It did." Violet agreed. Among other things, it had done more than that.

"That must have been why they had taken me instead of you. I was happy they didn't find you." He remarked coldly. "It killed me to believe that you died, but now I think it would have been better than being captured by those soldiers. They did-" He stopped himself. "It wouldn't have been good for you."

 _"What did they do to you?"_

She could feel the tenseness spread to the rest of him at her question, he grasped his hands together, squeezing so forcibly she could see his knuckles go white. "They they were not good people Violet. Not good people."

"I know about bad people Major, and I am not afraid of hearing about what they did, especially when it comes to them hurting you-" Violet was determined to know what had been done to her Major. Determined to know who had done this to him, and then bring them to justice for their war crimes. "What did they do to you Major?"

"I don't talk about it. Don't make me Violet." The way he said it, as if it would kill him to say. She could understand that. It did not make her guilt any easier, make the nightmares any better, but she was not so sure the truth would bring her much peaceful sleeping either. To imagine the Major in the hands of those that would see him hurt, see him suffer, it made her radiate with so much hate and sadness, and at the conclusion she was not sure what to feel anymore.

One thing was for sure, she was ready to stop making him fidget. "I'm not going to make you do anything." She held her dress just as tightly as he did his own hands. Upset to think that others had probably asked him to do the same, for purposes of War and comfort, but they had been not been received that way. "I would never force you to do anything that brings you this much pain." This wanting to reach out to him, wanting to… _May I hold your hand?_ _No, she couldn't say that, no don't say it like that._ As if she had to get his permission to touch him. As if she didn't know that with any other person she would not have asked. Why was she thinking so hard on this? Why couldn't she just comfort him?

She could see he noticed when her hands unclenched and clenched, but did he know how badly she wanted to be of some comfort to him, to ease the creases between his eyes, and make the pain of years separated leak away and leave them be?

He slapped his knees, making to stand up. "I think I should send for Mel, you obviously weren't expecting to get into all this-"

"I don't want that." Violet was quick to say, using her hand to get him to sit back down. "I didn't even know you were here until yesterday evening." Had it already been that long, she watched the way the processed the news. "Please, there is nothing I would want more than to just stay here and listen to your story."

 _"You didn't know I was here?"_

Now it was Violet's turn to be caught off guard. "No. I never even knew you were alive. If I did, if I knew you were here-" Violet would have dropped anything, anywhere to reach him. To see him alive, see him safe, and dare she say it… _to thank him, her letter_ … _oh, her letter._ Violet would give anything to have it now, to hand it to him, and watch his face as he read it to himself.

"But." The Major was rubbing his raven hair now, troubled, "but Dietfried said that you wanted nothing to with me. That you were a different person now, that you didn't-"

"That is a lie." It killed her to think that Dietfried had betrayed her in that way. She thought she had proved to him that she would have done anything for the Major, and after sharing how deep her sorrow had gone in their mutual loss she thought he had forgiven her in some way. It also killed her to think the Major had believed that she could ever _forget_ about him. "You have to understand. Everything I have done, every decision I have made, and letters I have written at request of the Company has been to understand what you told me." _I love you._ "Why would I ever not want to see you? Why would I want to stay away from you?" _The very thought made her sick to her stomach._

"Because." He bit out. Violet had not expected his answer to be. "Because we- I ruined your life Violet."

"What?"

"I took your childhood away from you, stole what innocence and goodness you had in you, and fed you to the wolves like the tool so many had called you. To think that you believe yourself my dog." He gave a morbid chuckle. "It was degrading to think I let them, but you didn't even know it was bad. You gave yourself to war Violet, killed, and I never once stopped you, I never stopped, why couldn't I have stopped you?" He looked at his hands that had turned to shaking fists. "You should have every reason to not want to speak to me ever again Violet. To hate me."

"That's not true. I don't hate you." Violet muttered back to him. "And those aren't the only things you did for me. Those were not the _only_ memories you gave me. There was more for me than that."

"For you." He clucked his tongue to the roof of his mouth in disappointment. She remembered him doing that whenever she had not understood the meaning of a word, as if he could not understand why she had been forced to live the life without goodness and kindness. "Of course, you still can't see it like that. You glorified me Violet, that's the truth, I am not the man you think you remember."

"You were all I knew." Violet felt herself frown for the first time, so upset with his dark thoughts, his refusal to see the good. "Could you blame me for thinking the way that I did?"

"No." He sighed heavily. "You put your trust in me, and I took advantage-"

"Major stop it." She had to stop this nonsense. "I can see the whole _truth_ now, just give a chance to tell you." She said right back, more assured now, determined to make him see it. "I see what decision you made for me, but I killed those people too. It was _my choice_ to kill them to survive, I killed them so we _both_ could survive." Violet felt her lip bob. "But I killed people, I did it of my own free will, and I know what I have done now." She could not go back to living a life without knowing what her actions had caused others. "I stole them away from their loved ones, didn't even care about the consequences, didn't even know the pain I would cause to those that never get to say goodbye." She got his attention now, his magnificent eye widening in surprise. "I have seen it in the faces of those that were left behind. I have written their letters." Her voice sounded watery, she fought on. "I am just as guilty as you are, and that is something that I am going to have to live with for the rest of my life. Their blood is on my hands too."

She took off her gloves, showing him her mechanical arms.

He gasped. "No, Violet. I knew, but-" he meant to reach out, but stopped himself.

She reached out for him, touching her cold mechanical hands with his warmer and bigger ones. "It's fine. I don't mind." She never stopped to think that he would mind, but at least he didn't pull away.

For some odd reason, his thumb rubbed her mechanical one. It made her heart do funny things. He stopped only to say. "I still can't see why you don't hate me. After seeing the world as you have, meeting others, and seeing the lives they lived, the opportunities that were taken from you. I don't understand why you don't-"

"You don't know do you." Violet grasped his hands fully now, bringing them into her lap, hoping the cold of her hands did not bother him, hoping that he would understand what it meant that he kept holding them as he did. "You don't know what you did for me."

He thought for a moment. "Paralyzed you with nightmares you can't escape?"

"No." Violet shook her head, giving her own morbid chuckle. "You were the first person to show me kindness." She threw to the wind whatever her letter had said, this came from the heart. "You saved me from being someone else's tool. I would never have known what the word _beautiful_ was." She could recognize when his eyes went straight for the brooch, he squinted at it, perhaps knowing the memory that came with it, and finally she could be in the presence of _someone_ that understood.

"I remember." He whispered in awe. "You're still wearing it?"

"I never took it off." She had to hold herself back from reaching for it, his hands were the better option, she hoped that he never tired of it. "You have to understand how you… _make me feel_."

"Feel?"

"Yes." Violet felt giddy to tell him all. "I was so _thankful_ that you said yes to Dietfried. That you cared enough to not see me fall into another person's hands. I felt so _safe_ when you took me to your family estate, fed, bathed, and dressed me. So safe when you came to check on me and explained to others the way that I was. I felt so _relieved_ that you gave me time to come to terms with my new life, taught me to speak again, to read, and write. You gave me more of a life, and we were stuck in a War for heaven's sake. You made it happen, and I felt so sad that I couldn't tell you how _grateful_ I was that you chose me to watch over you, and you me."

"Violet, you were so young."

"I don't forget." Violet sniffled, raising her hand for the first time to wipe her tears. "I never forgot what you did for me. You were my everything. Which is why I needed to know…"

"Needed to know what Violet." He inched closer.

Violet shut her eyes for a moment. "The meaning of the word I love you. I needed to know, even if I had never experienced it until that point. I had to know what you meant by saying it."

She felt him freeze.

She waited until he said. "Oh Violet, you should not have bothered yourself so-"

"It needed to know." She had agonized a full year over it, how could she not.

"Why would you do that to yourself?" She felt his hands weaken, as if he was afraid of the answer. "why was it so important?"

"Because when you said it, I knew you meant it." Violet muttered quickly. "And that is why I became an Auto Memories Doll, why I had to understand others' meaning of love, and then I knew that what I had been feeling, marching by your side, watching out for the enemy, ensuring you were alright, never wanting to leave your side… I had been experiencing it all along."

"Violet."

"Wait. I know this is asking for too much, that you weren't ready for my words, but I do love you," she returned what had been his all along.

"Violet, you have-"

"I know that is asking a lot since it has been so many years since you said it." She could see it in his eyes, her words overwhelmed him, her feelings had changed everything, perhaps even scared him off for good. She had been waiting to say these things for four years, prepared herself, and it was not easy for any sane person to take it all in for the first time. "But please." She urged him. "Don't send me away again. I'll stay with the Duchess or at the cabin with Sophie, but please don't make me leave you."

"I won't." He flinched at her begging. "I wouldn't send you away if it wasn't what you wanted. I don't give you orders anymore, I don't give commands-"

"I wouldn't follow them even if you gave them." Violet found herself chuckling, and then the Major began to too until they both were full on laughing through the awkwardness.

He leaned back in his chair, his arms tucked into his armpits, shaking his head in wonder. "You have changed Violet."

"So, have you Major." Violet was not joking, she was still coming to terms how foreign he felt. Like a stranger wearing the Major's face, but only it wasn't a stranger. It was the Major, and he had secrets and his own memories that she had yet to hear and understand. They would not be easy conversations, but she was ready for them. Looking at the small smile growing on his lips, and the way his blue raven hair brushed against his broad shoulders as he stood at his impressive height, she knew her mind and body would react strongly.

He smirked wider when he saw her stand with him. "Well, could I _ask_ you to join me at Mel's. She said she would have lunch for us?"

"Yes." Violet nodded, for once leading the way back to the Big House. "I already know the way."

She felt him follow behind her, shutting the door to this incredibly humble cabin, and following the path right behind her.

Violet dared not turn around, but she made sure to take special attention to the sound his boots made on the moist path. She was not so sure how well she would do being parted from him now. And she was afraid of the choice she gave him to know how she felt, especially when he still believed he was the worst thing that ever happened to her. He believed such horrible things, that she had given up on him, and that she had moved on with he life. That _he_ had in turn ruined her life.

 _How was Violet going to prove to him that he actually saved it?_

* * *

 **I want to give a huge shout-out to all my reviewers, favs, and followers, I love you and I will continue to write this story for you !**

 **I want to give a special shout-out to:** Katy, BravoSix, Caatgirrlll, Eunie, Bloozi, Mitsuki Snape, Psychophants, Authortist, Myriadell, Cookie, SAMx41, Noctus Fury, percabeth799, **infinitestormtales,** **yubima-chan,** **,** **MissFantasist,** **Oraeliaa,** **badkatie,** **Hatter1999,** **2Human07: thank you for being one of my very first reviewers :),** **AlisraSkywall: thank you for being the very first reviewer, looking back at all my reviews I truly feel the love and confidence to finish this story.**

 **Thank you so much!**

 **Katy:** Thank you so much! Your English is perfect, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter :) As for them living together, we have to wait and see :)

 **BravoSix** : I hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

 **Caatgirrlll:** sorry for the wait, enjoy this chap, hopefully I update sooner this time ;)

 **Guest #1:** I hope you liked this reunion, will have more, I feel like they have barely scratched the surface here.

 **Eunie:** I promise next chapter will go into the reason why Charlie looks so much like Gilbert :)

 **Bloozi:** I loved your review, really and truly :) I agree with you on all levels, I hope this met your expectations.

 **Mitsuki Snape:** Thank you for your review, I understand you fine don't worry, and I hope this resolves a few things, they have so much more to talk about, but I feel like this is a start before I drop more antagonist and other characters that we did not get to see this chapter.

 **Psychophants:** Your review made me smile so much. Thank you, thank you a thousand times thank you, tell me what you honestly think, and I have so much more time now to write, I can't promise anything, but I am willing to work with my followers. Thank you and have a wonderful holiday season :)

 **Authortist:** thank you so much for your lovely review, thank you for not rushing me, hope this lives up to this fanfic. Tell me what you think :)

 **Guest#2:** I am happy I made you cry, no that doesn't sound right, I feel for this fandom as much as you do honestly, I cry a bit myself too, I hope this chapter is not so bad, and that it brings you some sense of satisfaction. Love to hear more from you :)

 **Myriadelle** :I hope this is what you consider doing well, I didn't want to jump into anything yet, hope this meets your expectations :)

 **SAMx41:** hope you liked this next part ;)

 **whatausernameyay:** I hope you like this story :) Thank you for your lovely review, I am glad my work affects you in a positive way :)

 **Noctus Fury:** Thank you so much for being one of my very first reviewers, I went back and edited quiete a bit hope this helps a bit with the storytelling, I will be explaining more in the chapters to come :)

percabeth799: I understand the thirst, from one lady to another I have to say that I am in search of some good ones too, I don't want to rush into anything, my goal is to make it sound believable and not rushed tell me what you think :)

 **infinitestormtales:** I hope you enjoyed this newest chapter :)

 **I am so sorry if I missed anyone, for some of the guest reviews I kind of lost count, so I wanted to give a huge shout-out to all of you, you know who you are ;) I love you guys, and have a good night and weekend! Hope to catch you before Christmas :)**

 **Love,**

 **Odeveca**


	7. Tea Leaves and Revelations

_**Updated: 04/09/2019***_

* * *

 _ **"Tea Leaves and Revelations."**_

* * *

Violet learned one new thing from the Duchess.

 _Tea is so much more than a drink._

Drinking tea is an experience. Violet found herself admiring the way the Duchess delicately stirred the smoky aroma of her dark beverage with a miniature steel spoon, rhythmic _tinking_ against the white crystal china, taking the twin sofa seat beside her own, and not being bashful when adding cream and sugar cubes to her drink. It was both a visual and soothing experience. Violet's memories of warm bed and her lone rainy window at the CH Postal Company lingered even after the last drop was drunk.

"Please." The Duchess extended her hand to the pot of tea set on the table between them. "Feel free to have some more Miss Evergarden."

Violet was glad for it. "Thank you."

"My pleasure."

In the living space of the Big House, tucked away in a den of the Duchess' picturesque cottage, facing a closed window protecting against the faint murmur of sea waves and cold sunset, Violet sipped on her own hot brewed tea. A thick wool blanket hugged her thighs and midsection, a calming touch against her upset stomach. Rather lovely woven dollies were draped over the twin and single sofa chairs of her living space, large white lace medallions that made Violet wonder if the Duchess had a hand in their making, and if the Major found them as lovely.

The Duchess sang loud and proud.

 _"Just wait,_

 _so wide he may roam,_

 _always a hero comes home…"_ Her voice faded off, going into herself as she went back to brew another type of teas from her collection.

 _"_ _He goes,_

 _where no one has gone,_

 _but always my hero comes home."_

Violet rubbed the tiredness from her eyes when the Duchess turned to lift the side of her mouth at her, a rather meaningful look of shared understanding.

 _Of course, she loves him and cares for the Major, they both shared that._ Those loud thoughts made Violet want to be gracious to the Duchess. Gracious for keeping the Major safe, housing him, and perhaps even sharing tea with him as well.

Perhaps he had sat in the seat she was inhabiting now. Perhaps, he had enjoyed his time with the Duchess, thought and felt content _with only_ the Duchess for company... that haunting thought made Violet want to run from the room at the same time.

Instead of continuing to watch the Duchess sing and brew tea on the homely stove, Violet was paying an overwhelming amount of attention on her metallic mechanical fingers, fingers that held the offered cup in her lap, and gave her a focus other than the Duchess. She was focused on the tea's heat leaking through the wool blanket, into the fine fabric of her Doll's dress, and at last to her concealed chilled thighs. They felt clammy from the walk her with the Major, her dress damp from walking through the fields dew rich with sea mist.

She found the memory of warmth helping her some. The ghostly sensation seeping into her _once_ whole human fingers made her mind wander further to where the retired Major Bougainvillea must have walked off to after their noon lunch, and in that way the Auto Memories Doll sat on a cushioned seat with her back to the roaring fire. A fireplace that was far larger than the Major's back at the cottage, quiet and pensive in her thoughts.

The Duchess brought her right back. "The magic lies in the teapot."

 _"I'm sorry, what?"_

"The teapot, your tea, it draws it's magic from the teapot." Was the Duchess' answer after the third cup of tea offered, taking her seat with Violet once more. "My mother-in-law, the Dowager Duchess of Vivace, always told us that _the teapot_ is what makes the tea special. This teapot." She held the bronze, rose painted teapot in her un-gloved hands. "Has been in my husband's family for generations. Generations of sharing amongst loved ones." Her golden eyes smiled at Violet, encouraging her. "You're not a lady of many words, are you Miss Evergarden?"

"No Duchess."

"Mel please. There should be no titles between us."

"Yes, Miss Mel- _anie_ ," Violet fought the urge to ask what her last name was.

"That's a start." The Duchess Melanie put down her tea, leaning back. "I came to check on you earlier when you were sleeping. Gil gave me the impression that you needed your rest, and I agreed you have been through a rough night. The assassination attempt has left us all a bit shaky, it's not every day that I see a man get killed by Sophie." She chuckled with mirth that had no place around death and murder. "As for you. Where I come from, it is _uncouth_ for a young woman like yourself to sleep alone in the presence of an unmarried man."

Violet could not let that stand. "The Major would never harm me."

"Hm." the Duchess drank her tea, savoring it. Her dress of fine yellow fabric glowed as Violet awaited her answer, the fine red roses at the front and bottom of her dress reminded her of the rose garden outside. Perhaps the Duchess had as much thorns as she had her bloom. "He wouldn't harm you." She agreed with Violet. "But didn't your mother teach you there are other methods a man can take? They can just as easily beguile and ensnare your good senses-"

"It isn't like that." Violet said with finality. "He wouldn't trick me like that."

"Of course, he wouldn't, forgive my directness." The Duchess gave up her questioning. Aware of how it upset Violet. "But I had to have your opinion of Gil's character. I have to say you are a very _consistent_ individual Miss Evergarden, in your loyalty to others, especially when it comes to Gil." The Duchess inclined her head. "As for my wayward guests, l guess that my son is still sleeping where we left him."

He was.

Charlie was still sleeping in the large sofa seat against the wall, his little chest rising and falling after the excitement of not only Violet returning for lunch, but the Major as well. His clothes from the night before were long gone. He wore a long nightgown, freshly bathed, fed, and tuckered out. "And as for our rather infamous Sophie…" The Duchess looked to the hallway entrance. "She has yet to make another appearance. Half-a day already lost. That is a record for her to go missing since she came to visit. Between you and me, that spells out that she has either busied herself at the Seagrave Orphanage or stirred more trouble than she can handle. Both would be a headache for me." The Duchess rubbed her temple.

"Why would she be in the Seagrave Orphanage? Is that where you usually stay?"

"I do stay at the Seagrave Orphanage. At least when there are matters to be taken care of, and people of consequence need to find me more quickly." The Duchess answered. "If not, then I gladly hide away here. As for Sophie, her old habits of interrogation are hard to forget. She is more likely going through all the faces of my guards, household servants, nanny's, and a few professors I believe. She is very thorough, very thorough in her protection of those she cares for."

Violet remembered how adamant Sophie had been in protecting her mistress the Duchess. Urgent to the point that it had frightened her with the crazed look she got. Violet was not sure if she could ever be at ease in the retired battle-doll's presence again. Not after she had so callously taken another life as well. That could never sit well with her, not matter the reason. "She was thorough with questioning me as well." Violet muttered callously. "Perhaps a bit too much."

"It's her way." The Duchess looked like she respected Sophie's way. "She is sharp and swift. From what I have learned, Sophie isn't one to dally with pleasantries, or _stay in one place_ , but seeing as she is very much wanted by the local authorities, and _mysterious others_ from her time abroad…" Violet guessed the Duchess was talking about the prison she had escaped from. "I am glad our Sophie made it here. I need her wit, and her… _critical eye_ in matters of state."

"She is very critical." Violet gave her that.

"She is. She saw much in you Miss Evergarden." The Duchess chuckled at that, she echoed Violet's words. " _Perhaps a bit too much_."

"She… Miss Kenway was…is." What was one word to say about the under-cover maid revealed battle doll. Violet set her tea in her lap once before, giving her own critical assessment. "She seems to be very close to your family."

"Oh yes, she is very close." The Duchess brushed her hands against front of her dress. "Sophie Kenway was a maid to the Bougainvillea townhouse for _some_ years."

"A maid?" Suddenly Sophie's maid outfit seemed more dubious, a way to add to the fire of Captain Dietfried's display of hate for her.

"Yes, the Lady Bougainvillea hired her on when their nanny fell ill."

That also meant something else. "That means that Sophie knew the Major too, their whole family."

"Oh Yes." The Duchess chuckled as if she had been dying to share it. "I believe Sophie was with them from when Gil was born to when he was very young boy." The Duchess nodded in thought. "Let me tell you, when I was at a toddling age, I went to visit Dietfried and Gilbert, play-dates if you will as children of noble families usually do." She bent her head, voice warm, and her eyes filled with joy of the past. "Sophie took us out to the gardens of their estate for hours to play, until our feet hurt, my dress ruined with dirt and hay, and until we were called to dine with our parents we still played. Sophie would look after us." Violet could see the admiration in the Duchess now, she truly respected Sophie. Their relationship went to the point of _loving_. "She fed us treats and told us stories about her travels in the years of her youth. She was around your age then, but to us… she was a mother figure of sorts. A maid with a heart of gold."

"A mother figure? A heart of gold?" Violet could see Dietfried's hostile glare holding no affection for the maid that the Duchess was describing. He had all but threatened her, gave her so much cursing poison. Violet had expected she had been a worse than a maid of their childhood, "but Captain Dietfried seemed unhinged at the sight of her. He seemed angry."

"He has his own personal grievances against Sophie, that is no well-kept secret." The Duchess waved a hand. "The reason is known only between Sophie and himself, I am not one to ask about such things. If Captain Dietfried is willing to respect my authority on my home grounds, then what happened between them in none of my concern, and not your own Violet." He remarked rather quickly. "There is no use in meddling in feuds that do not concern us. Sophie is a grown, and so is Dietfried."

Violet was concerned about another part, another part that bothered her insistently after the Major's revealing story. "Captain Dietfried kept me in the dark about the Major surviving the Battle of Intense." There she said it. She watched the way the Duchess' face became troubled. "Where you aware of him doing that?"

"Unfortunately, yes." The Duchess sighed, seeming deeply disturbed as well. "You have to understand, Dietfried and I have known each other since infancy, it was hard for me to _not_ believe the story he painted of the battle doll with a heart of ice and no soul to speak of. The way he portrayed you was not kindly Violet. So, I had hoped that _keeping you in the dark,_ would keep Gil from more pain."

" _Pain_?" Violet interrupted. "Was the Major in pain because of me…" That was just inexcusable.

"Oh Miss Evergarden." The Duchess reached over to her, grasping her mechanical hand, and not answering her fully, "I cannot imagine the pain _you_ must have went through. Please tell me that Cousin Claud was there for you? That he did indeed watch over you as he said he did."

" _Cousin?"_ Violet's voice rose, "Claudia Hodgins is your cousin?"

"Yes, he is."

 _That was hard to believe._

The Duchess did not share the same blue-eyes and deep red hair as Claudia, and certainly not his height, but appearances could be deceiving. After watching Sophie Kenway throw off her wig and change her skin so to speak, Violet had learned to be _more open_ to her perceptions of others. Especially with the Duchess, a woman she had yet to fully understand.

"He is my husbands' cousin, so a cousin to me by marriage." Duchess Melanie revealed. "My mother-in-law was a Hodgins before she married into the Veridiche royal family."

 _Royal?_

Violet fidgeted in her seat, she had forgotten she was in the presence of a royal.

The Duchess saw this. "And as I am a member of the Veridiche dynasty, that makes Claudia and his older brothers cousins of mine. Now tell me true, did he take you under his wing? He told us he did, but in matters regarding your well-being after the War." She muttered kindheartedly. "I would rather hear it from your telling."

"Claudia has looked after me in every regard." Violet bowed her head in respect and gratitude of him, glad to share a smile with the Duchess. "There was nothing that I could ask more of him."

"Good, good, at least our family has not failed you in that regard." She remarked solemnly.

Violet felt her spine tingle at the mention of her boss. "Did… did Claudia know that the Major was alive?"

"Oh no darling." The Duchess became insistent. "It was a need to know basis. Cousin Claud, even though he is a cousin, did not make the cut. Gil's safety rested on even those closest to you also remaining in the dark, or even those outside the immediate family knowing would have served as a threat to keeping his life safe."

"Safe?"

"You see Violet, when Gil was captured, he was made an enemy of his Leiden state, many government officials painted him as a traitor for selling our nation's secrets. It was very difficult for Sophie to smuggle him out from that enemy war camp, it cost her freedom when they sent her to prison, and if it had not been for Dietfried stepping in the way he did to get Gil here, to petition that he would live his days in secrecy under a different alias… well let's say that Gil is very lucky to have found himself living with us."

"I would not have jeopardized that." Violet mumbled to the woman sitting beside her. "I would have kept the Major safe." She was upset the words had escaped her, but she did not regret them after thinking it over twice.

"We know that. We know that." _We know that_ _ **now**_ , Violet understood the Duchess meant to say.

"Well, there now, all better." The Duchess patted Violet's lap. Something in it reminded her of how some woman mothered her. The way Gil's maid had done when she had been a small motherless thing. She was no longer that girl, but as a woman she knew when to bit her tongue and not act in the negative.

"I am so glad I had a chance to explain this very troubling situation." The Duchess said unknowingly to Violet's true state of mind. _That was an understatement._ "And you are doing so well Violet, don't let your anger for Captain Dietfried get in the way of your new development with _your Major_."

Violet smiled but for some reason it could not reach her eyes.

She was not that good of an actress.

It felt off to have the Duchess so knowing of the Major's past. To have her sharp golden eyes see every part of herself as Violet heard everything for the first time. For once, Violet was not the one asking questions, the one needing answers, and reassurances. It made Violet wonder where she felt in all of this. Was she here to validate everything that the Duchess told her, or was she here to march over to the Seagrave Orphanage or wherever he was, and give Dietfried a piece of her mind? _Because going after the Major, after he slyly made his disappearance wasn't already boiling in her mind, would not be the calmest of options. No! She could not abandon her place here. She could not disobey the Major… wait… the Major never commanded her to stay put, and so why was she thinking this way? More importantly, without the Major, why did she feel so inferior to the Duchess? Why did she let her?_

"How about some sweets." The Duchess pulled her away from her troubling thoughts in that way that Violet now connected with actresses on the stage, a rather coy opera singer, so unlike the bleeding heart of Irma Fliech, _but no less deadly_. "I have some pastries from back home? What do you say Miss Evergarden? Do you have a soft spot for sweet things?"

Violet forgot to smile this time.

"Me! Me!" A thud of feet and a white hands came between their expectant gazes. "Yes, yes, yes! I want some Mama! I want want some!"

A blur of a now awake Charlie jumped on his mother's lap, destroying the tense air around the two young ladies, reaching with his hungry hands for the tin container she held over her head, and away from the auspicious opportunity to forget her refusal to go on with her _friendly charade_. Violet was not sure if she would have rejected the sweats, she was not sure of herself on any ground at the moment.

"Charlie, calm down now! Or you will not have any."

"But Mama!"

"Behave." The Duchess had to softly tap his hands away, even as a child he was taller than her when she was sitting. _He was so much like the Major._ The Major and the Duchess shared more than their secrets Violet reminded herself. Those questions would one day have to be asked. The old Violet, the Major's dog would have asked outright, not caring for decorum or pleasantry, but the Auto Memories Doll in her bid her to remain still and not defile any good will the Duchess held for her, especially with the knowledge she had yet to bestow.

"Charlie." The Duchess berated him lovingly, her eyes betraying her need for closeness. She narrowed her eyes at her son, poking the tip of his chin, and then lifting his neck to keep his precocious attention. "Were you even sleeping? Were you listening to Miss Evergarden and I?"

"Yes, yes I was sleeping! But but I have been waiting all week Mama, please pretty please." He batted his irresistible eyes at her.

"Alright, just one." She gave in, and he took three pastries for her soft heart.

"Charlie! Only one!"

"Thank you Mama!" He ran out of the front door, running before his mother commanded he bring the stolen pastries back.

The Maid that had served them lunch was right behind him with his coat for the cold.

"Thank you Angela! Did you see that." Duchess Melanie made a face. "Shocking, he got me." The Duchess' golden eyes turned playful as she put the tin container away, forgetting that she had offered Violet some. "You know he gets that from his father, I swear, pretends that he is occupied with something else, but just springs up on me." She chuckled. "Have you met the Duke?"

"The Duke?" Violet felt her mouth hanging, her unconscious grappling with the Duchess words. "Charlie is the Duke's son…but I thought he was the…"

"Of course, he is Charlie's father." The Duchess eyebrows furrowed, perhaps even raised with Violet's less than horrified words. Her words became dangerously low. "Whose father would he be?"

 _"Mama?"_

They turned to see Charlie standing in the doorway, hugging the wall.

"Oh darling, there you are?" The Duchess hid her face in a pleasant mask, one that only frightened Violet even more. "Would you like to play with Violet?"

"No." He looked at his feet, feet that were caked in mud.

"What is it my darling? What is it Angela?" Even the Maid behind Charlie would not answer them.

"Darling your scaring me." The Duchess stood, worried, looking at Violet from the corner of her eye. She was upset. More upset than she had seen of Charlie's mother. Perhaps a bit frightened too. "This is unlike you Charlie, what is wrong-"

"It's Uncle Diet and Uncle Gil." He gulped, his eyes shimmering with tears. "They were fighting."

"Fighting?!" With little composure the Duchess stood and rushed for the door. Violet rushing right after her.

Outside the air was cold against Violet's cheeks, her dress slapping against her calves as she rushed past the Duchess that froze on the porch, and down she leapt onto the porch's steps to strain her eyes in the distance and see if there was any fighting.

Walking towards them was Sophie in the lead, and a good twenty and thirty strides behind was Dietfried and Gilbert Bougainvillea- not fighting- but walking sidelong, heads bent, and following Sophie. She could not make out their faces, but their hands tucked into their pockets, their refusal to look up or at one another, like little boys caught red-handed-

Violet was surprised to believe that Sophie was. "A mother figure?"

"I told you." The Duchess had heard her, and descended the rest of the steps until she too was beside Violet looking across her front yard to Sophie that led her boys back to them. The Duchess was once again back to her calm sense. "A mother figure to us all."

Violet did not feel comfortable commenting to that. If she wanted a mother-figure, it would not be Sophie. Gilbert and Dietfried's mother came to mind, because she respected and trusted the Lady Bougainvillea, and a long-ago maid that interrogated unsuspecting others for fun, and perhaps felt no remorse while killing, that type of _mother-figure_ felt like a poor replacement after the honor of meeting their true Lady mother.

"It is really too bad that Sophie can't stay longer with us." The Duchess joked on. "It's nice to see that she got those two to stop fighting one another. At least someone can."

Violet was not sure if that was meant for her. _Did the Duchess blame her?_

"Ladies!" Sophie opened the gate that separated the Duchess' yellowed grass yard to the wild grass of the sea cliff, the wind picked up, biting their once warm faces, and Violet clutched the blanket the Duchess had draped over her shoulders, closer. The blanket she had stolen with her as they both had rushed to set eyes on the Major once more.

Sophie was chuckling to herself again when she finally joined them. "Look at you worried hens. What are you doing out in this cold?"

"Worried about you silly." The Duchess said moving to embrace Sophie, so unlike the greeting she had given her back at the cottage with her soldier's staring.

"Don't fret, you'll get wrinkles!"

"You're horrible Sophie Kenway."

"Oh yes I am, hello Vi, how are you holding up?"

"Hello Sophie." Violet was beginning to believe that Sophie kept this perpetual mood of giddy happiness out of a habit rather than to incite some reason to piss everyone off.

Sophie's voice rose over the crash of waves. "Yup, I stopped them, yes I did."

"Thank you for getting them over it all." _It_ , Violet was sure it was more than that. Just a one-sided argument as Duchess Melanie put it sounded wrong. She had yet to have her fill too, her fill of getting her own say of the truths that were kept from her by a certain Captain.

"Got them to get over it?" Sophie's laugh was bitter. "Not even close! They are still at it. Look at them, still can't let things go. Have to go sulk off like _little Charlies_ after their ears have been pulled."

She was right.

Instead of coming back to the house like Sophie had, they walked out to the cliff's edge. Violet worried about the reason for them going to the cliff's edge. She was sure with every fiber of her being that Dietfried would never push the Major over the edge, but the Major… she was sure he would hate himself for ever hurting his older brother, _well, he would later,_ after the rage was forgotten.

"Violet! My lady of the hour!" Sophie clapped her shoulder, distracting her. "How has your day gone? Got rest?"

"I am felling better." Violet held back the first true smile since the Major had left. There was something about the battle-doll as if she could sense her uneasiness in all this. She was at least grateful with that.

"Have you been getting along with our Duchess? Are you the best of friends now." Violet swore she could hear the sarcasm leaking from Sophie.

"The Duchess has been most kind to me." That was at least the truth, Violet grinned looking up at Sophie. "She has told me much about the Major and even you- _Oh my! Your face_!"

"What is wrong with her face?" The Duchess stared closer at Sophie, fighting against the shade of the porch and sun to better see her. She too was beginning to note the faint red and darkening discoloration of Sophie's left eye. "Did someone hit you?"

"Oh, it's nothing." Sophie waved it off. "You should see the stitches on my forehead I had to take out before coming here. Prison-life for ya!" She mocked herself. "In my experience, this was merely _a misunderstanding_."

"Then whom…" the Duchess paused. "Whom is responsible for this misunderstanding?" Duchess Melanie urged in the way some mother's do. As if the gap in her words was a prelude to the punishment she would hail on the head that laid a hand on Sophie. "Was it Dietfried? If he is that much of a scoundrel, then I will send him off my lands quicker than you can"-

"It wasn't Dietfried." That surprised both Violet and the Duchess.

"Then who was it? _Who was it?"_

"I got in the way." Was Sophie's reluctant answer. "I got in the way between Diet and Gil and this is what I get for it. Next time I need to let them get all their energy out before I get between them. I was trying to protect one from the other and well- let's just say I will not be doing that again."

"The Major did it." Violet felt upset for a reason. The Major was not known for his anger nor his brutality. It was one of the fine qualities that separated him from the others. It was the one thing she was sure about.

"He didn't mean it Violet." Sophie patted her shoulder once more. "He was very sorry for it. It's what got them to stop fighting. Come now." She pushed Violet deeper into her porch chairs, as if to remind her to remain calm, Sophie took hers beside Violet, and the Duchess taking the one facing them both. "Now let me tell you about what I have found. It might intrigue you to know that one of your friends was hired on at the Orphanage. Does the name _Luculia_ mean anything to you?"

"Yes." Violet was intrigued. "I do know her."

Sophie went on to explain just that.

Luculia Marlborough had been called in by one of the professors as an Auto Memories doll, to write letters to family too far away to visit. When she came, she had met one of the stable boys, a young man by the name of Lukas Greenmarch, also a native of Leiden, and they had got on with one another smashingly. Enough, to the point that he had proposed to her, and she said yes.

"They are planning on getting married next summer." Sophie wiggled her eyebrows. "I am surprised _your friend_ hasn't sent you the letter already to invite you."

"We are private people." Violet said right back. Surprised at her wittiness with Sophie. "Not all of us share everything, many of us would rather keep our secrets what they are."

"What's the fun in that?"

Luculia finding happiness and wanting to be private about it mirrored Violet's own present situation. Some people needed time to gather all the information, perhaps a bit of isolation to relocate their past, present, and future choices. Violet felt that if she were to wrap her head around the _newsstorm_ she had gathered once coming here she would need her own place, her own time, and perhaps... to be with people she could actually _trust_.

She tried to tell Sophie in different words. "It's not supposed to be fun. It's peoples lives. They deserve to have their own privacy." Violet explained feeling a bit exasperated that her dear friend Luculia probably had to put up with Sophie's own form of playful delving interrogation. "I like to believe that when Luculia is ready to share information with me then she will. I will be there when she does."

"Fair enough." Sophie shrugged, laying back on the couch, throwing her feet on Violet's lap. "She is your friend after all."

"Violet." The three ladies turned to the Major's voice. "Can you join us for a moment?"

He was standing at the gate, with his older brother next to him. Dietfried turned to the sea as if he was not sure to run off or stay put. And so the two tall brothers stood together, one with his back to them, a long-raven haired braid on display, and the other blue-raven hair that swayed at his shoulders as he leaned over the gate's railing.

Both, after a heavy silence, held Violet's torn gaze.

Their muscled bodies turning stiff and serious at her reluctance to join them. Their bodies, not strangers to dangerous situations, did not change in the sea breeze, predators of War to anyone but her, and so Violet found herself swallowing the nervousness in her mouth.

The Major asked once again. "Violet?"

"Yes."

As if, she could ever deny him when he said her name like that.

Violet stood from her porch chair, and walked over the creaky wooden floor to the Bougainvillea brothers that waited for her.

* * *

 **Thank you all for your uber-wonderful reviews, favs, and follows! I am blown away with the support this amazing fandom has to see this story through, this was a bridge chapter to the next, I am going to leave Gil and Dietfried conversation with Violet in the next chapter. I didn't want to hurry this momentous conversation it is a long time coming to have these three together in one place. I hope that the revelations made in this chapter were not upsetting but intriguing. Tell me what you think my lovelies :)  
**

 **A SPECIAL SHOUT-OUT TO: KennaChanMaiden, Guest #1: thank you!, BishopDreams, SayMeow, Hatter1999, OpenWindowLight,CreaturesOfTheDarknessKnow, SleepyHeadWakeUp, LookAwayBabeLookAway, igothighhopes, Pandemonium333, Psychophants, Xireana Prime, yubima-chan, and lastly my first reviewer of the last chapter** **Authortist!**

 _ **Thank you all so very very much for your heartfelt reviews, you are the ammo to my writing!**_

 **Authortist:** Thank you so much for your support and enthusiasm :)

 **Yubima-chan** : thank you! Yes you can take it as your birthday present, I hope you like the interactions and what we presume happened between Gil and Diet.

 **Xireana Prime:** I am trying! I promise I am trying to finish this love to hear what you guys want to see I promise it makes a difference :)

 **Psychophants :** You are absolutely the best reviewer ever! I am so excited to see what you have to say. I hoped this was well-developed and a more pleasant expereince. I promise to have more of Diet and Gil in the next chapter, I can't reveal everything at once, but we will see in time ;)

 **Hatter1999 :** Your amazeballs :) Here is another chapter, just to hear you get excited about it is more than enough for me! Hope you too had a safe and happy Merry Christmas and New Years!

 **SayMeow :** I hope so too! I have a general plan but like many writers I don't want to get in the way of the flow of the story, hope it is intriguing and as deep as the show, or at least represents the characters for what they are... people that are meant to grow :) Enjoy :)

 **KennaChanMaiden** : It's not it I promise! I have way more story planned for this fanfic, as we learned from this chapter Mel and Gil are not married, and Charlie.. is the Duke's son... or so Mel says. I know there is going to be so many more questions after this chapter, but I hope some questions were answered. That was my goal for the tea shared between Duchess Melanie and Sophie. Thank you so much for calling this a masterpiece. It is the first piece of work I actually feel good about, and I hope this chapter doesn't live down your views of where this story is going.

 **Again I am so sorry if I missed anyone! I love you guys and hope you guys have a safe and happy New Years this coming 2019 year. It is humbling to see that so many people around the world have taken the time to read this story, follow, fav, and review. Your reviews are what fuel my obsession to see this story finished. I endeavor to give you all a very good read, so I am sorry but I am not sorry :) if I am editing as I am going, sorry I have too! ;) Writing is a process, and I love learning that the hard way as I wait for the corrections to replace the old. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoy my daily updates!  
**

 **Love,**

 **Odeveca**


	8. You're burning Violet

_**Updated: 04/09/2019***_

* * *

 _ **"You're burning Violet."**_

* * *

 _It was a beautiful day for a wedding._

 _Violet could not be happier. Except, perhaps to see Princess Charlotte in her wedding gown, and to watch Alberta silently recite the rehearsed vows with her Princess as she said them perfectly to her Prince Damien. But, as any Doll after a letter and her service finished, she was no longer needed._

 _"You owe me one Violet. It was not easy getting Prince Damien to agree to send that letter."_

 _"What would you like?"_

 _"A steak." Cattleya gladly said._

 _A steak? Cattleya Baudelaire wanted sustenance for uniting two people and two kingdoms?  
_

 _Violet shrugged, she could do that easily.  
_

 _The two Dolls departed the kingdom of Drossel, the celebratory glow and sighing relief lasted for a while as they reminisced on the love letters between the Prince and Princess. After getting that thank-you steak, Violet learned from Cattleya that the feeling she couldn't shake off was called 'pride' in her actions. Violet felt proud of her decision to let the Princess write her own letters, and use the power of her own voice instead of using someone else's._

 _"It was a bold choice," Cattleya had commented as she finished that steak. It was her favorite dish at the Diner Rosier, a famous dining choice for when she traveled in this part of the continent._

 _"You could've destroyed a girl's life with your daring move. Could've destroyed the chances of two kingdoms finding peace with one another."_

 _Violet gulped her piece of steak down. "I never thought of it like that."_

 _"Good thing you didn't, and I was able to convince Prince Damien." The older Doll winked playfully. "I think Princess Charlotte owes you now Violet. You lucky girl! It's not every day a girl can say a Prince and Princess owe her their happily ever after."_

 _Violet was just glad that her bet had turned out for the better. "I think I already got my reward," Violet smiled at Cattleya, asking her the same. "Don't you feel that way after seeing them together?"_

 _"I guess you're right." Cattleya laughed impishly. "I guess I can bet on you Violet. I can bet you will go above and beyond what is asked of you. You let people be their true selves, let their letters be their true selves. That is something all Auto Memories Doll's should learn to do."_

 _She remembered a teaching of Instructor Rhodanthe. "Isn't that what a Doll is supposed to do?"_

 _"Yes, they should. Doesn't mean they always do. Just never change Violet, you hear."_

 _"Yes, Cattleya."_

 _She spent the better part of that day listening to stories of Cattleya's own daring letters, even a few during her dancing days, and then they said her goodbyes as her fellow Doll embarked on another personal request from Tolesia._

 _"I'm going to give Claudia hell for not letting me catch a break. You be safe the rest of the way Violet. Don't let the President boss you around until I get back."_

 _"Sure Cattleya." Her fellow Doll's praise had sweetly milked Violet into a calm stupor on her solo-voyage back to the CH Postal Company. She found herself daydreaming and dozing away at the sea's smooth shimmering waves._

 _When Violet had finished her voyage from Drossel, returning to the port of Leiden, she felt as if she was returning home. Her innocent steps off the boarding dock could not have faltered more fiercely when she had heard a man call her out._

 _"Tool."_

 _She did not need a memory to remember the look of unmolested hate in Naval Captain Dietfried's eyes. A familiar dark-eyed death glare that he made special for her._

 _"So," he snarled, a picture image of the last time she had seen him. Sophisticated braid and piercing lime eyes. "You're writing letters now," there was no humor in his tone, his friends behind him giving her mirrored look of disapproval. As if they too could see she was nothing more than a wolf in sheep's clothing. "With the hand that took the lives of so many."_

 _Violet shivered at the accusation._

 _-You're burning Violet, you just don't know it yet- Claudia Hodgins' ghost words had marked her once so naive mind._

 _"The hand that took so many of my comrades."_

 _-You're burning-_

 _Violet was taken back to that stormy ship. Her hair as wild as a wind demon, her hands brushing death strokes against his so-called comrades. Comrades that wanted only to be friendly, perhaps a bit too friendly for comfort. She could taste their blood in her mouth when she sliced supple necks, her small hands wielding duel blades, and noticed how they dripped so chillingly with dark crimson. The taste of blood made her want to vomit now._

 _"You write letters that bring people together." She could hear Dietfried's tone turn darker. As if he meant to say, 'It's all a sick joke, you're the joke.'_

 _He went a step further. "You're a monster."_

"It's too cold to be out here."

It was the same Dietfried that tore her from her memories. His braid swinging wildly behind him as he roughly turned away from Violet that stood proudly beside Major Gilbert.

The three of them still facing off the death-plunge of a cliff. Beyond, where the light touched the ocean, its caste an orange glow, rolling dark with the bright pinks, fiery reds, and further sleepy purples. It would have been beautiful setting any other day, but Violet could not enjoy it.

Not before a conversation with the Captain and the Major, her nerves had little more to do than wait for the explosion of words and feelings rather too close to a cliff's edge.

The same cliff that she had heard the guard's comment an assassin would have to be downright crazy to scale. The sea's roaring and howling waves below crashed against the base of it, Violet had only to look once below to remind herself how far they were up, and how much of a bad decision it was to have a conversation this close to the ledge.

"Can't we go inside." Dietfried rationalized. "It's too cold outside for this"-

"We'll go inside when we are done hearing what you have to _tell_ Violet."

Violet felt herself sigh, looking over the two of them, the end of a day weighing heavy on her, and their dual upset attitude not making it any better. This close to the Major she could see dark circles under his eyes. She did not remember him sleeping at his cabin, and she was not sure the last time he had closed his eyes. He had not since she had returned to him, for some reason that bothered her. "Are you not tired Major?"

"No." He shifts, body stiff from his defensive display of displeasure with his brother. His hands clenched, and arms tucked deep within his pits, his mood foul seen so easily on his face. After seeing so many upset faces after the War, she knew he was not angry enough to throw his brother off the cliff… _at least not yet._

"He should be resting." Dietfried remarked coldly. "If he knew what was good for him we wouldn't be stuck freezing our assess off."

"If you did what was good for me, Violet would have been here months ago." He glares at Dietfried harshly, and then blinks, his face softening. "Are you cold Violet?"

"It's not a probl- _Yes._ " Violet smirks to herself. There was no reason for her not to say the truth. "Yes, I am cold, but if you want to have this conversation out here." She though the Duchess or Sophie interrupting them before they had their say. Heaven forbid that Charlie heard something he shouldn't hear. It was better they had their words out here. "Then it is better that we say what we want to say from prying ears."

"Then we will stay out here." The Major remarked. "It's better that we have our say as Violet put it."

That sounded great to Violet. _Let the Bougainvillea brothers their say and get to the point so they could all get warm by the fire._ She was in no hurry to start this conversation, Violet had her time to privately rage against Dietfried. She had done a bit of it when the Major left, cursed him even, used some colorful language she had heard Benedict use once. Sure, the President had rung his ear afterwards, but Violet would be a liar if she didn't say it was not satisfying.

Her anger had simmered into something blunter and more reasonable after she learned that the Major had hit Sophie. He had let his rage get the best of him when he had been aiming for his brother, and so that is why she was not demanding anything from the Naval Captain.

Apparently, that was all the Major.

"Why are you silent now?" He demanded of his older brother. "You afraid of Violet hearing the words you told me? Afraid to act like a human being in front of her?"

"It's not that." Dietfried took a step toward them.

"Then say it. She has a right to know."

Violet opened her mouth to tell the Major that he was demanding too much of Dietfried-

"I know she does." Was Dietfried's snarling answer. "She does, that is what makes it harder to tell her. Violet? I-" Dietfried choked.

Violet felt her eyes get around and big as she watched the Captain struggle. _Was he going to apologize?_ She was not sure if he was choking on something or about to say something. But she knew that whatever it was would change the way she perceived him. Dietfried wanted nothing to do with her, he made that clear from the start, and he struggled terribly with giving her the reason now. If it was not for the Major, he might never have told her. She would have died without knowing the reason why Dietfried kept them apart.

Violet must look like she was about to cry, because she had never thought it possible. She had never known that she had starved for his acceptance once too. That she had been so hurt by his rejection after the Major's death. If anyone understood how terrible she felt to not protect the Major… _it was him._ Now he was… _trying to apologize._ Violet was overwhelmed, and then she sniffs.

Both Bougainvillea brothers saw this.

Violet felt her eyes begin to leak.

"Violet, no don't do that." Dietfried ground his teeth, his hands balling into fist as if he was gathering all his will power to focus on this single task. "How can I say it now Gilbert-"

 _"How?"_ The Major couldn't hide his flinch and widening of his eyes. "You did this, so tell her already! What is the matter with you!" She had never seen the Major scream at his brother, seen him so upset, and she had to put her hand on his shoulder. Now would be a moment to fear for Dietfried being thrown over the edge.

"Fine. Okay." Dietfried growled. "It's true, I called you tool without a heart, I even called you a monster."

"You bastard." The Major cursed, Violet held him back. "How could you do that to her-"

"The way I treated you was the way I wanted others to treat me." That confession silenced the Major's anger, and it threw Violet's mind into so many more questions. "I was still alive after the War, and Gilbert wasn't. We didn't even know Gilbert was alive until two years ago. I truly thought he was dead, and I wasn't there to protect him." Dietfried raised his enraged lime eyes, "and you were there, you were supposed to protect him, and you didn't. You got to see another day when they told me it was an impossible mission, and that you were lucky to have survived. I wondered why my brother wasn't lucky enough!"

"Dietfried!" The Major snarled. "That isn't fair, and you know it!"

"It wasn't fair!" Dietfried repeated his brothers' words, agreeing with him. "I didn't care about you Violet." That came as no surprise to the Doll. "But you meant something to my brother, so I knew it was him that saved you in the end. He gave up his life so that you could live. He chose your life over his own, and he knew that he was letting go." Dietfried met his brother's gaze. "He chose never to see me again, our mother, or our sisters. I was not only angry at you Violet, but the person I was really angry at was _you_." He directed his anger at the Major.

The silence rang loudly. Violet felt a weight come off her shoulders at the Captain's words. She was beginning… _to understand him now._

"I know." The Major said, perhaps they had this conversation at the Seagrave Orphanage. Maybe that is why Gilbert had attempted to lay blows on his brother. "I know you were, _you are_ …"

"No." Dietfried shook his head, stuffing his hands into his pocket with a heavy sigh. "I'm not anymore. When we got news, that you were alive, I didn't feel the anger, I only felt _… relief._ I was relieved because I could get a chance to get you back. When we did get you back." He skipped over the Sophie rescue mission very easily. "I was surprised with how little you remembered of your past. You could only remember the War, and even then, I didn't care. I had a second chance with you. A chance to never let those war-monger assholes get their hands on you again-"

 _Then why did you steal my chance?_ Violet thought sadly.

"Oh Violet." The Major touched her shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that he did this."

" _Um_." So, she had not said that in her mind, Violet's cheeks flared red. She had not meant to say that out loud.

"You were off writing one of your letters when I got the news." Dietfried said casually, there was still a hardness in your voice, his lips curling as if he had tasted something foul. "I could lie and say that I didn't care if you knew. That I didn't care what it would mean to you, but I still went to visit Claudia at the Company."

"You came?" She had not remembered a visit two years ago. He had not come but before the Airshow. She would have remembered if he came.

"You weren't there." He answered her unsaid question. "And Claudia had plenty to say about you." A grim smile became his mouth. "He _praised_ you. Of how you had grown up, had made a life for yourself, and that you had become well-known to the point where people all around the continent requested your services. You were too busy to meet with me, and you seemed to have moved on." He shrugged, leaning further away from them both. "And I knew that my brother would need time to heal, time to gather himself from the wounds he had received, and that your lifestyle would not…"

"That was my decision to make." Violet said because it was true. She would have dropped everything in the blink of an eye. Anyone that knew her, spoke to her, had the time to hear her story, they would have known that she would have been there to help the Major.

"And mine." The Major added. "You told me that she wanted nothing to do with me. That she was a different person and leading a life that I could not be apart of."

"That is what I told myself." Dietfried remarked coldly, "I never felt guilty for it until the train."

Violet truly met Dietfried's gaze now, all the pieces finally fitting and coming together.

"When you said that you did not follow orders, that you didn't need my gun, that you would not kill those hijackers, and that you refused to take another person's life. That it was what my brother would have wanted." Violet heard the whisper of something else in the Captain's voice, could it be approval. "When you protected me," Violet looked into his eyes, seeing no hate in them. "Even when my brother, your master, wasn't around to order you to do the right thing. I knew what I had done to you was wrong. I had separated two people from one another, because I was selfish, and I refused to give you your happiness Violet." He said with an air of disdain, for her, or himself, it could have been both. "Because you stole a piece of mine."

 _Jealousy._ Sophie had told her back at the cottage. _That is the only reason I can think of, he's worse than a bastard never forget that_.

 _Stuck-up prick_. Benedict had said once as they shared their lunch meal.

 _You don't have to carry that burden anymore._ The Lady Bougainvillea had told her, revealing a part of the Major she had thought she had lost. _Dietfried has told me that, the time has finally come to let Gilbert go. He tells me that, but he can't do it himself. The two were very close ever since they were very young. My son is… alive._ She had touched her chest kindly, a symbol of wisdom and kindness in a painful storm of emotions _. He is alive, in here, so that I will never forget him. Even though it may be painful. I still carry him in my heart, because even now, I still love him._

"Yes." Their mother had been right.

"Violet? Violet your shaking." The Major now had two hands on her shoulders.

"I understand now. I understand you now Captain. I can let what you have done to me go." Violet let the tears drop now, feeling sated and upset at the same time. "But what I can't understand is why you would lie to your mother! Why she believes her son is dead!"

Dietfried's eyes became huge, "I didn't-"

"I wanted him to do that." The Major's voice was suddenly calm, his hands falling form her shoulders. "That was my choice Violet."

"But…" The Major was the one keeping it from their mother. _How could he do that?_

"My mother is very ill Violet. Dietfried had already told her that I had passed away four years ago. They had a funeral and it broke her Violet. She is too frail even to walk to her room." He shook his head mournfully, probably encouraged by Dietfried's inside information on her daily life. "I will not upset my mother even more by coming back from the grave. If she were to fall ill once more… I could never forgive myself."

"She would still want to know, she loves you-"

"That is for Gilbert to decide." Dietfried stood up for his brother. "Not yours Violet."

He was right. She did not like agreeing with the Captain, but he was right. She could not make this decision for the Major. Even when she wanted with all her heart to tell their mother that her son had not fallen at the Battle of Intense. That he was alive, that he was safe, and so painfully close to her. Violet had wished that someone had done the same for her. Dietfried met her gaze in that painful moment, and she saw something mirrored in his as well. _He wanted to tell her too._

Violet knew she must have died, because she could never believe that day that Dietfried and her agreed on something. She must be dreaming.

The Major coughed when she pinched herself.

"Isn't there something else you would like to say Dietfried." The younger brother remarked once more to the elder.

"I'm not going to grovel at her feet if that is what you are asking."

"Apologize to her." The Major inclined his head. "Properly this time."

Dietfried gave the Major a look as if he was playing a joke on him. It did not look like the Major was joking. In fact, if the Captain did not apologize this moment then Violet would have to hold the younger Bougainvillea brother back again before he did something he regretted. "Fine, I apologize Miss Evergarden," Dietfried mumbled under his breath.

"Like you mean it this time."

"I apologize"-

"I get it. He already apologized." Violet spoke up for herself, not in the mood to get another lackluster apology from Dietfried when it was obvious that was the best he could do. He had seen he for a monster, a tool that savagely killed his comrades, and she was, she would live with those burns for the rest of her life. It would seem wrong to push him further than a stalemate. She was not a type of person to torment others, no matter how badly they had hurt her. "And I already accepted it."

"You don't have to accept it that easily Violet." the Major desperately put in before she gave up her chance. "You don't have to accept him if you don't want to. Don't do it on my account."

"I'm not." Violet dared to look Dietfried straight in the eye. "I do mean it. I accepted it because I wanted to. I don't take orders, or do what you want me to do Major." Now she met the Major's eye, for once very frustrated with him. "And now I am going inside, because I am very cold, and I think we are finished talking about this." For the first time Violet walked away from the Major, frustrated with him, and she did not feel the need to look back at them either.

"We aren't finished Violet, we still have to talk about-"

"Let her go Gil-"

"How the hell do you call that an apology?" He berated his elder brother. "I thought you were going to-"

Violet got far enough away from them when she shut the door to the Duchess' home. It was deliciously warm inside, far more relaxing with her tired sigh for company, and her toes and fingers thanked her as she walked towards the other two women on this desolate piece of land.

"So." Sophie's face was eager for the news. "How did it go? Did you give Dietfried a punch for me! Requested a fight to the death in Gil's honor!"

She ignored Sophie.

"Miss Melanie." She addressed the Duchess. The Duchess had a knowing smile on her face. Like the cat that ate the canary. "If I may ask, where is my suitcase and typewriter I wanted to freshen up, and type Sophie's letter as I was instructed to do upon my arrival?"

"Of course, Miss Evergarden, I had my maid Angela fetch it this morning from the cottage by the sea. You are more than welcome to spend the night here. There is a room for you at the end of the hallway. There is a bathroom attached to it. Everything should be waiting for you there, if not then myself or Angela will be more than happy to be of service."

"Thank you Miss Melanie." Violet walked in that direction, determined to see herself alone so she could truly relax in her own skin.

"Hey! Come on, you are not making this any fun Vi! You know that I have been waiting days to get you all three in the same place. I expected it to be more entertaining than this."

"I am sure you will get your entertainment Sophie. God forbid we fail to entertain you." Was Miss Melanie's jolly retort. "In the meantime, I want you to go to the Orphanage and speak to the Headmistress, have her send the first round of students-"

Violet shut the door of the guest bedroom and slid down against it.

* * *

O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oO

* * *

 _I'm not burning._

She awoke all at once, her body soaking in the tepid water of her bathroom's tub.

 _I'm not burning._

Lashes lowered over tired eyes and with a gasp she twitched as feeling slowly but surely crept into her limbs, her mechanical arms clutching the sides of the ceramic tub.

She had not wanted her arms to conduct any of the heat from the bathwater and burn where her shoulders, nerves, and flesh met the metal.

The young woman looked up at the white cream ceiling, decorated with paintings of blue and pink roses around the corners. She barely managed to keep her lids up for a few seconds more before they fluttered low and with a sigh she fell back to sleep.

 _I'm not burning._

* * *

O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0oO

* * *

Violet's next brush with consciousness yielded different results.

There was a pinching feeling at the base of her neck where she had laid her head against the tub. She jerked her head forward and hissed at the sore incessant tug of nerves that she had strained while sleeping for so many hours in that position. The bathwater was an icy chill against her naked skin.

Forcing herself to stand, she freed the nerves on her neck with a massage from her cold metal hand, freed her scalp from the pain, and only had a chance to blink at the already prepared Auto Memories clothes that must have been laid out be either Angela or Miss Melanie. She was not sure if she felt comfortable with someone coming in while she slept in the tub but was grateful that she did not have to go searching through her suitcase while she was cold and wet.

After cleaning herself with a dry towel, she put on her Auto Memories outfit, knowing that she had probably slept the night in the tub, and after a peek through the window she could see the faint glow of dawn creeping over the great shadows of the hills that covered the back of the Duchess Big House.

Violet could hear no noises in the house.

Perhaps the Major had left back to his own cabin at the edge of the woods, perhaps Captain Dietfried had left back to Leiden, and she was left to her own devices here. She was not sure how to feel about that, but after a glance at her typewriter she was reminded that she still had work to be done before she went searching for any man with the name Bougainvillea attached to him.

Violet tried to keep her typing quiet, but too late she heard someone knocking at the door.

"I'm sorry." She whispered to the person behind the door, opening it for the necessary crack to apologize. "I was trying to type Sophie's letter-" Her voice caught in her throat.

"Can you join me outside?"

"Sure." She grabbed a blanket from the bed this time, before going outside her room, and following Dietfried's long steps, even longer than the Major's as they went into the kitchen, living room, and her eyes could not help but stray to the Major sleeping frame in the seat she had sat in the night before.

The fire had gone to a sleepy ember, faint birdsong could be heard through the window, and it all moved in tandem with the rise and fall the Major Gilbert's chest. A part of her wanted to move close to the Major, brush her hand over his unkempt hair, brush it against her eye-patch, and even dare to lay a kiss on the side of his head as she had seen Melanie do to Charlie. There was something so soft and child-like as she watched the Major quiet breaths as he slept hunched over in his seat beside the fire.

"Violet." Dietfried whispered to her. She looked back at the Captain and he inclined his head towards to door, and to the outside of the Big House. "Come." He opened the front door and she followed, daring a final look back at the Major. She would return to him.

Captain Dietfried walked to the great Oak Tree, there was a bench there, and he sat on it. Not patting the space beside him, and for that Violet was grateful.

"Violet I wanted to say that I am very-" He sighed so loudly she was sure that he had woken the Major inside. "I am very sorry for the pain I caused you and Gil. I don't want your forgiveness. I just want you to know that it was done with the intent to keep my brother safe, and… I didn't want you to look at me the way you look at me now."

"What way?"

"With pity." _Pity?_ He could not be serious. The great, handsome, and highly-esteemed Naval Captain Dietfried Bougainvillea thought that she pitied him. _Was that how he saw it?_

Violet shook her head and smiled at the coming dawn. She could never pity Dietfried.

She felt sorry for the person that did pity him, and knew that person would not have to pity him for long. He was not one to wallow in self-doubt and guilt for the rest of his life, because he had too much pride his actions, _or so his mother had told her._

"Why aren't you fighting me Violet?" He dared to ask her. "Why are you not angry with me?" His hands exasperated before him as he sat on the bench. For once he sat lower than she, so she no longer had to see him looking down his nose at her. "Why does it feel like you gave up on telling me off for the things I have done to you? Some can never be forgiven. I wouldn't forgive the person that called me a lapdog, a tool, a-"

"You have no idea how many times I have let the things you said go." Violet finally felt the courage to say. It was easier to do without the Major listening in.

She continued, for Dietfried's sake. "They don't affect me anymore, they just became words. I knew in the end that you only said those things because of your blind hatred, that you were drowning in your hate-" His eyes furrowed not understanding. "It was something the President said once. At a funeral for one of his friends that had distanced himself from everyone, his family, his friends, and not one of them showed up for the funeral ceremony. People whispered he drunk himself to death, blamed everyone for it but himself, and the President said that he was a drowning man. That he had been drowning and no one was willing to go down with him."

"What does this have to do with me-"

"It reminded me of you." Violet executed her story, determined to keep that soft look in Captain Dietfried's eyes. Perhaps he would finally see what she saw when she looked at him. "When someone is drowning, you try to save them." She was sure he had learned that in the Navy. "But not when they are going to drag you down with them. You were trying to drag me down Dietfried, make me believe I was the monster you thought me to be-"

"I did." He said after a moment, his shrewd eyes marking her delicate features. "Then why are you so calm-"

"I choose not to believe it."

"Not believe it? I don't understand."

"I don't believe that you a malicious person at heart."

"How do you know what is in my heart?" He shouldn't sound so wounded after she said something like this, but she was beginning to believe Captain Dietfried had built walls around himself, and this was just another one of his.

"I just do." Violet sighed out her frustrations, letting them go as best as she could. "You said those things because you were drowning." She rubbed her own shoulders; the Duchess blanket was far too thin for comfort. "And it looks like you aren't drowning anymore. At least, I hope you're not."

Looking torn, Dietfried awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Well then." He brought his hand beside himself on the bench, for a second Violet thought he would tap the seat beside him, but then it curled into a fist and he turned toward the cliff again. To where he had first given that awful try at an apology. "I believe you are the first woman to ever make me speechless Violet."

Violet tried to hold back from gloating.

Instead she distracted herself by wondering what the Dietfried of four years ago would make of the man that was sitting in front of her. He would probably put him out of his misery, a bullet to the forehead as he once said during the War. That was the best way to put soldiers out of their misery when the wounds were too great to recover from.

She wouldn't let the old Dietfried do that of the new, not when she was just beginning to _prefer_ this Dietfried over the one that had used his lime eyes like daggers to cut her to pieces.

His lime eyes were not daggers now. Instead, he was staring unabashedly at her, almost as if he had come to some sort of conclusion, "Violet, I-"

"There you are." It was the Duchess Melanie that found them speaking privately outside. She also had her own blanket around her dainty shoulders. Without makeup and her hair pinned tightly around her head she looked younger. She did not look the role of a Duchess, but that smile of hers. Violet was sure some royal had taught her that. "Excuse the interruption, but Gil was asking for you Violet."

"Excuse me Captain."

She left Dietfried on the bench outside and went back into the living space. Her lungs had an easier time against her corset, perhaps this conversation was a better ending to the one of yesterday. It sure felt that way.

Major Gilbert was still sitting in the seat she had last saw him.

The fire alive, flickering against the lovely shade of his raven blue hair, and so was he. He no longer looked so furious as he watched the Duchess pass by him, and walk on into the kitchen. There was a thick woolly blanket of another color was wrapped around his legs and a cup of tea that smelled suspiciously of the same flavor she had partaken with the Duchess the night before. In his hands he kept the tea close, just as she would do if she had hands to feel with.

His bright eye flickered up from the cup, meeting hers.

"Violet." That gorgeous green eye found her. Her favorite color. Something truly special. Unlike the first time he had laid both of his eyes on her, he leaned back in his chair, and this time his eye quickly ran over her frame, his eye-patch made him look more dastardly than she believed him to be. Her skin prickled with awareness. He said to her. "You look lovely this morning."

Violet felt herself flush.

She had not expected him to say that, for the first time in a long time, feeling _very lovely_ in her Doll's outfit. Perhaps she should have taken a bit more time in her preparations of the day as Cattleya had remarked on several occasions.

She took his compliment graciously. "Thank you Major."

"The blush makes it more so." He said in a deeper voice.

Violet blinked back, she had never expected him to continue like that, and for his voice to drop as well. _What had got into him this morning?_ He had never acted that way four years ago, and yet… _it was a nice change._ Her blush had turned to a rather prominent tomato red, but she found his words nice all the same.

As she quietly watched his face remain playful with her, she felt the sudden hushed moment become a second too long. By the time the sides of his mouth inched upwards, she was glad he found her amusing if nothing else.

"I was going to wake you but you weren't in your room." He put the cup down on the chair's side table, making to stand up and greet her properly. "Why didn't you wake me?"

"You were so sleeping so peacefully." Violet watched as the smile left his face.

"So, you stole Violet?" He demanded of the shadow that had followed behind her. "Were you just talking or was it something _more_?"

She felt the looming Captain behind her, before she saw him.

"Just a little conversation brother, nothing for you to punch me over." He walked in and by her, she could feel Dietfried brush beside her, taking the seat next to his brother, and then there was two of them staring back at her. Violet was reminded so painfully how similar they looked, they truly were brothers. Different shades of black hair, inky black versus raven blue, icy lemon versus warm aquamarine, and of course the obvious, but the similarity was haunting.

Funny that one had only wished her downfall, and the other had risked everything to see her whole. Perhaps it wasn't funny. _Not to anyone but her._

"I thought you said, Violet needed a _proper_ apology." Dietfried was not quiet smiling as he said this, but his scowl was not so prominent. At least he was back to that sarcastic self she had seen before the Major had been reported dead. She found it nice to see that Captain Dietfried could change. Perhaps there was still hope for him. That hope was doused when he arrogantly lifted his brother's tea cup, waving it dramatically and rudely over his head. "So, how does a man get his tea around here? Do I ring a bell or something?"

It was stoic and graciously patient Angela that came to give Captain Dietfried his own cup of tea. Duchess Melanie and Sophie were conveniently gone from the morning conversation, perhaps they had thought they still needed more time to talk things over.

When the Major spoke again, he sounded unsure. "Did he really apologize to you Violet?"

Dietfried smug smile flashed to annoyance.

"He did apologize." Violet quickly said before another argument could ensue, stepping closer into the firelight of the living space. "We both have come to an understanding."

"Oh." The Major took another sip of his cup. "Should I be worried?"

"No." Dietfried said just as Violet said, "no."

"Thank heavens you are all _friendly_ now." The Duchess popped her head in. Indirectly stopping the Major's accusations. "How would you all feel if we took breakfast with my mother, the Dowager. She has been dying to see you Dietfried, and you too Violet. You should all come before Dietfried goes back home to Leiden. I already sent Charlie over last night, it would be a dream to him to have both Gil and Diet there for him to play and dine with." Her golden eyes twinkled with mirth at the thought of all three of them together. "Please say yes."

Dietfried looked like he had tasted something sour. "I really should be getting back-"

"So, you are leaving." Major Gilbert looked to Dietfried, his eyes landed on the door, daring to question his brother more firmly than the Duchess. "Were you planning on only staying a day? Would you even have come if Violet wasn't here?" He demanded. "If you weren't trying to arrest Sophie would you even be here?"

"I had my orders Gil."

"Are those the only things that matter to you?"

"I have to go back." Dietfried eyes bored into his brothers. "Mother will be expecting me. I have already been gone too long. I don't trust the servants that I leave her with, and after the attempt on the Duchess life-"

"Of course." The Major dropped it immediately. "How could I have forgotten. You must go. I will not hold you back."

"Perhaps." Dietfried drawled. "Perhaps this time you could join me. To see her again, she wouldn't even know you are there."

The Major fiddled with his cup, _thinking his proposal over._

Violet tried to relax herself or appear too excited. It would be a dream come true the day the Lady Bougainvillea had her son returned to her. That so many others that thought the Major dead had a chance to see him alive and well. She still waited with bated breath.

Gilbert let out a sigh. "I can't. I should introduce Violet to the Dowager and get her settled here. Perhaps next time."

Just like that, a familiar darkness crept into the Naval Captain's eyes. "Of course." The way his green eyes caught the light from the window, the slightly cocked eyebrow as he looked over the frozen Doll whom had yet to speak or breathe for the last minute. "You should make Violet feel welcome here brother, it isn't every day that she gets a new home."

A trickle of icy fear shivered up her spine.

 _Home?_ But the CH Postal Company was her home. _Who had told them that she would be staying permanently? The President? Dietfried? Heaven forbid, the Major? Did they expect that of her? Would it be rude to refuse? What would she tell her friends? What could she tell the Major to make him understand? Why was she so upset?_

The Duchess' mouth inched up in a grin at Dietfried's words. "Too late for that Diet. After these crazed days, she is practically family now, aren't you Violet?"

Violet stayed silent, her tense face betraying her true emotions.

Dietfried's wolfish smile gave her answer enough to the knot growing in her stomach. _He had been expecting her to have this reaction, perhaps he wanted her to say no, to break the Major's heart? Did he still hate her? After everything?_

"Don't get too excited Violet!" A voice that sounded suspiciously like Sophie rounded the corner, revealing the very same. "Some might think you are trying to mooch off the Duchess and her hospitality." Her sarcasm was not lost on any of them.

"We can talk about this later." The Major said, his face as tense as Violet's, perhaps more so. "For now, we will have that breakfast. Come on, I will walk you over Violet." He got up, and others followed his lead after dressing for the cold morning air.

Swallowing back her misgivings, Violet mentally shook herself, putting on her petticoat, and following the Major down the hallway.

She could do this. Easy. Three steps. She would have breakfast, then speak to the Major about her question of residence, and after they would understand one another.

And somehow, she would do this without first alerting a professionally nosy Sophie, a rather clever Duchess that seemed to watch her like a hawk, and a Naval Captain that had a talent at seeing that the last thing she wanted to choose between was the life she _made_ for herself as an Auto Memories Doll, and the life she _could_ have with the Major.

See.

 _Easy._

* * *

 ** _AUTHOR'S NOTE: THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, A THOUSAND TIMES THANK YOU!_** **For every single reader and writer that has reviewed, faved, and followed this story, you are all my muses in this, I am proud to be apart of this fandom, and get this story done! Love you all, and hope you are all having a wonderful Sunday.  
**

 **SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO:** **KennaChanMaiden, yubima-chan, Saint Black Genesis, Xireana Prime, Psychophants, ScarlettIsMyColor, igothighhopes, TheGodmother321, and LoveIsASongThatNeverEnds.**

 ** **KennaChanMaiden:**** I am so glad you liked my last chapter! I hope you liked this one as well. I hope this chapter showed a bit more development on Violet's part, as well as a few others. I hope the Bougainvillea brothers conversation with Violet was to your liking :) Thank you for all your reviews!

 ** ** **yubima-chan:****** I had a bit more revelations in this one, hoped you liked it. I hope this cleared things up a little bit and portrayed the characters to your liking. Have a great Sunday! Thank you for all your reviews!

 ** ** ** **Saint Black Genesis:******** Thank you for reviewing my story. I am so happy this story quenches your thirst! I did the exact same thing and was so sad to see there are very few multi-chapter stories on here, and not many that begin from the ending of the TV show. I too agree that Violet and Gilbert could have so many moments together, they are sure to get more moments together in the next chapters, but I think this chapter needed to be written for what I have in store for these characters. Thank you I am so happy you like my writing, and I hope this chapter did not disappoint!

 ** ** ** ** **Xireana Prime:********** I agree Violet does have a poor time absorbing but I think she is growing a bit as a character, she is getting some really tough decisions and conversations about the people closest to her, and I hope to see her character grow through the span of this fanfic story. Thank you for all your reviews!

 ** ** ** ** ** **Psychophants:************ I hope this chapter lives up to your expectations! Tell me if you wanted it to go this way or that, love to have your feedback. I am so happy you think that this seems like canononverse I think that is the highest praise a writer can get from a reader honestly you are the best! I am so happy that you can see my improvement it means so much to me. Thank you for all your well thought out and touching reviews, they mean alot! Have a great rest of your weekend!

 ** ** ** ** ** ** **ScarlettIsMyColor:************** thank you for the review chica, miss you girl ;)

 ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **igothighhopes:**************** thank you! I aim to please ;)

 ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **TheGodmother321:****************** Hope this is what you asked for, thank you for reviewing!

 ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** ** **LoveIsASongThatNeverEnds:******************** Thank you for your review, I try to update quickly, but what is a girl to do with plot bunnies I tell you, they are downright vicious haha, thank you for your review!

 **Thank you, love you, and hope you all have a wonderful day,**

 **Odeveca**


	9. Of Mist and Shadow

**_Updated: 04/09/2019*_**

* * *

 ** _"Of Mist and Shadow."_**

* * *

"Are you a religious person Violet?"

The Dowager's question struck the Auto Memories Doll as odd.

 _Religion?_ When they had been discussing the number of classes available for the orphans of the Seagrave Orphanage.

"Excuse me Dowager, you mean faith?"

"Yes, do you have faith Violet?"

The Duchess and Dietfried gawked between the Doll and the Dowager.

"Let's not get into such private things Mother-"

"I expect an answer when I ask for it," the Dowager put it simply. "When I was Duchess," she marked the younger Duchess Melanie with an evil eye, not so much the adopted Mother figure the Duchess made Violet believe her to be. "Not answering a question was the highest of insults."

"No one is insulting you, it's ten in the morning." Dietfried sighed up at the ceiling. "It's too damn early to declare War on one of Claudia's Dolls."

" _Hear hear!_ " Sophie chuckled from her place in the corner, and tipping up her glass of stolen bourbon, it sloshed, and wet the red and white dyed carpet beneath her chair. "Oops, I'll pay for that." The Dowager gave the former Maid another death glare, as if that was the least of her concerns, and then Sophie was sent to kitchens to make herself useful.

" _Melanie._ " The Dowager said her name as if she was a small child in need of scolding. "Need I remind you, this is no place for _the help_ to seek sanctuary, and in the process ruin our assets." She was talking of Sophie. "I thought I already told you to keep her to her place, out of sight, and _far away_ from us."

Violet expected Melanie to fight back, stand up for her friend Sophie, and to her chagrin she only kept drinking her tea. Quiet. Obedient. Domesticated Duchess of Vivace.

"At least that is something that we can agree on." Dietfried remarked to the Dowager, whom sported a worse scowl than he could ever perfect. "Be careful with that one Duchess Vivace, there was a reason why they put her in prison."

" _Scum of the earth._ There was a reason why I support the death penalty. I'll never understand why we ever let her stay here with so many children close, it could get out, and then what would the people of Vivace say, what would our sponsors say?" The Dowager snarled in her teacup, and Duchess Melanie put hers down, settling the tremor in her hands. In a baroque styled tea-room, located at the very end of the second story of the square like building of the Summer Vivace Palace, was where they took to their discussing of religion and the infamous Sophie Kenway's rather notorious exploits of the aristocracy of not only Leiden but several other states to the Dowager's sour disapproval.

Violet clammed up her own disappointment. She enjoyed the interior of the Summer Palace instead.

The large white windows were facing the gardens below, leaking in noon-time bright light, it reflected off every piece of china and the glass chandelier above their heads, and in this decadent place the Dowager had taken them to dine for breakfast and then settle their rather happily full bellies. Violet was now sitting beside Gilbert on a Victorian sofa couch, Dietfried and the Duchess Melanie in the one facing theirs, and Charlie playing with his toys in the corner of the room.

To their left, proudly sitting in a dress of another century, sat the Crone of the Summer Vivace Palace, the Dowager, with an ebony wood cane in both hands placed atop it, the head of a dragon clutched in her long-manicured nails that tapped to the beat of some forgotten tune.

It killed the momentum of their discussion.

Duchess Melanie had just got into explaining the three writing and typing courses that Violet would be helping the children with when the Dowager had bared down on any decency of the conversation, and marked Violet as the center of her rather bold interventions.

"I will ask you again, are you a religious woman? Do you pray Miss Evergarden?"

 _Prayer?_ Violet was not sure if anyone had ever taught her to. "I can't say that I do Your Grace."

The crone hummed at being called so, almost sounded as if she was purring. "I thought not. The moment I looked at you." Her eyes went down to Violet's lap, where her ungloved and impressive metal hands lay, calm and waiting for her command. "When I saw those ungodly hands of yours I knew you were a woman of war and welcomed the hardships of it."

"Charlie." Duchess Melanie piped up. Strung so hard in front of her mother-in-law that Violet was surprised she wasn't shaking herself into bits. "Go with Maid Angela. You can play with your friends outside now."

" _Finally._ " Charlie made away as a runaway from the simmering tension. For a beat they watched Charlie walk out of the room. The crone's eyes watching her grandson in the way a lioness would her baby cub. He dashed back before touching the door. The Dowager patted his bottom when he rushed to hug her before leaving. Thankfully, the tense air disappearing for only a moment.

Too bad Charlie could not stay to ease the tension.

The crone returned to her old sour self in moments. "Well, now that _my little ears_ is gone. I'll tell you what I really think about your story." Her tone changed for the worse, her thin lips frowning, and then Violet's arms were not so calm. "There is nothing respectable of a woman that yearns for blood and glory. Nothing respectable of a woman that would choose a profession of causing harm onto others."

"Mother, that's hardly what Violet is, I told you that were misinformed, Diet made it very clear that the stories he told us was false, she is truly a great-"

"When I need your opinion Melanie, I will ask for it."

Dietfried had to cover his laugh with a cough.

The crone's unsettling eyes marked the Captain until he too looked away in shame. Gilbert beside her had not settled the truth of the matter, that she had never freely chosen this life, that she had been the pawn for others for a very long time before and afterwards, and for once Violet was glad he reigned in his need to protect her. She was glad that he let her defend herself for once, perhaps this meant that he regarded her no longer as the child, but as the woman she knew herself to be.

Whatever reason it was, he did not move from his position beside her, did not move a muscle.

"Do you think that telling me about the good things you have done for others can erase the bad?" The Dowager went on, insistent in resolve to make Violet understand how deeply she disproved of her. "Do you think that because you are a woman that you are safe from the sins you committed in War? I don't see Dietfried or Gilbert claiming their good deeds in front of me. As if the good Lord would care if they were decent people like everyone else, you shouldn't be applauded for being decent, that is called humbleness girl, you should _investigate_ that before you deign to speak to the _people like us_ ," she emphasized. "People like us that have seen twice of the world over and helped a great more too."

 _"Good Lord, she's humble."_ She heard Dietfried mumble into his third tea of the day.

"Don't mumble Dietfried, you will never get a wife when you refuse to act like a man. Now speak up I can't hear as well as I used to."

"It was nothing."

"Then perhaps you should have stayed silent."

Violet jerks herself back from grimacing at the verbal lashing, but he was right. _Good Lord indeed._

This had not started out as an argument, but it seems that it was turning into one.

While they had dined on sweet baked pheasant, spiced mashed potatoes, and sautéed thinly cut vegetables, Violet had only confirmed Duchess Melanie's approving words of the letters and people she had helped along her rather daring journeys. Now look what had happened, her first impressions with a crone that had perhaps been around when King and Queens had ruled Telesis seemed to be spiraling into a place she had no place being. She was not so sure following Claudia's instructions and helping the orphans with their typing was worth it in the end if this was the Dowager's reaction.

"Do you think that anyone cares for a once battle-doll parading around as a self-made Doll? I will give you the answer, no darling." She sighed tiredly, as if she was tired of repeating it herself too. "You are only more of the same, hardly a story worth telling if you ask me."

Violet bent her head down, she silently monitored this first test of character.

Perhaps it would be better to listen to her elder, perhaps that is what the Dowager wanted.

The crone took her silence as confirmation. "Did Gil tell you that his father was a man of War? That man acted as if he was born to it. Disgusting." She remarked coldly, and she saw Dietfried flinch under the word. "It is downright disgusting what killing does to fathers, brothers, and sons. A shame to think it can take our womenfolk with it too. To believe that woman like yourself participated freely-"

"No. She was not free. You don't know the half of her story."

It was the not the Major that said it.

"I took her from a piece of shit island when she was but a very small child." Said the older Bougainvillea brother. "No family, no name, but she was a hell of a fighter. The perfect soldier." His gaze seemed to linger on the way her mechanical hands clenched under the tension of his tale-weaving words. "When she fought it was under my orders. When she killed she was doing it under my orders, she was intended to keep my brother safe, and win us this War. She did that. Even the most religious, most noble of my units couldn't put a stop to War, but she did it." Captain Dietfried's lime eyes marked hers with something she was beginning to understand as his way of seeking her forgiveness, or perhaps seeking his own forgiveness as well. "She is a War Hero, so the next time you dare to blame her, look to the aristocrats like yourself that never gave one son to end this War, when she gave everything that she had and everything that she is so that people like us could live free of the killing, blood, and how did you put it-" He bit out. "Glory?"

Melanie looked between Dietfried and her mother-in-law. "Perhaps we should drop this. There is no use fighting when the War is already over."

"The War is never over." The Crone said darkly, with an intelligent gleam in her otherwise once bored eyes. "Why do you think I gave the girl hell for what she has done, and what your older than dirt battle-doll Sophie Kenway does for kicks when you aren't looking. They are tools of War, and so is the sons of Charlus Bougainvillea." She looked at the son that had dared to talk back. "Don't think boy that because I hold your mother in such high regards that I have forgotten the things you did for sport when your father wasn't watching. In some ways you are worse than him, but unlike him it seems you have little to no shame for what you have done."

Dietfried did not deny it.

The Dowager rubbed it in. "It seems to me that you enjoy being the devil in other people's stories. Don't you?"

"Your right." Dietfried remarked, crossing his arms over his chest. "But if anyone has a right to judge Violet it is the people that understand her the most, not someone that has only just met her." He made it very clear, his voice dripping in sarcasm. "And someone that thought it wise to drug her protector when he was otherwise occupied. I mean really, if you fear my little brother's outburst so much why keep him in the first place?"

Violet's mouth dropped, eyes widening, and she truly looked at the Major. To see that his eyes were indeed closed, mouth hanging as well, a quiet breath exiting as if he was fast asleep. _He was asleep!_

Something in Violet growled. "What did you do to him!"

"Oh hush, the sleeping drought will wear off in a few hours. He hardly sleeps as much as he should." Said the Dowager. Violet noticed once again how deep the black bag under his Major's eye looked. Of course, other would see it too.

The Dowager saw, nothing seemed to get past her. "He is too worried about you that it makes him sick. He got that from his mother, you should have seen the way she fretted over Charlus when he first went off to War." Something told Violet that her hatred for War was far more rooted than just the story she had heard today. Maybe she didn't need to change the Dowager's mind, perhaps no one could. That didn't seem such a bad thing when she caught the warm look she sent the Major.

The Dowager answered the question. "I keep my little Gil because unlike you Dietfried, I actually liked his company. As a child he would stay at my side. Such a sweet boy, sweet shy little boy, just like _my little ears_."

Violet ate the upset words that were swirling in her mind.

She did not need to defend herself to a woman that cared for the Major and Charlie and had cared for them long before she did if she really thought of it.

"You only want your family to remain safe." Violet spoke up, not balking under the Dowager's returning stare.

"How do you know what I want?"

"I want the same thing." Violet went on. "If leaving was a way to ensure their safety, if in the end it was the right thing for the Major, for Charlie, for Duchess Melanie then I would gladly go. After so much killing," she shuddered at the bloody and pale faces that followed her into her nightmares. "I know now that life is the most precious thing. To live and be free, to live without orders, and to do the best good for others, that is what I stand for now. That is my purpose. I am sorry if my past actions or sins as you called them cause you grief or hatred, but I cannot change who I was, or the things I did. As I told the Major," she looked at him, a sudden overwhelming need for him to hear this rushed though her. "Their blood is on my hands."

"Violet." Was Duchess Melanie's earnest plea, not liking the way she said that. "You were just a child, a child soldier, you didn't know better." For a moment Violet saw the friend she could have in the Duchess, the one if many levels of society did not separate them.

"Oh, stop it. Don't pity her. She did what she had to survive." Dietfried remarked coldly. "No one knows War until you have been in it. Do not think that because you have no part in ensuring your safety and freedom that you are all safe of the sins that we committed to keep you the way you are now. If we chose to be noble as the rest of you, then perhaps this would be the Galdarik Empire, and you would all be out of this Palace, so would the orphans for that matter, and we would have to live off the scraps they felt like leaving us. Now how does that sound to an old windbag that gets a three-course meal every day?"

"Stop it." Violet remarked to Dietfried before this got further out of hand. "If you don't want to ruin today, stop taunting the Dowager, and start making yourself useful. Why can't you get something to wake the Major up?"

"You can't command me." Dietfried bit back. She could hear the word in her mind _Tool_ that he failed to add.

"I'm not. The War is over, and I want to stop letting it control our lives. So, show me how to help your brother or I will tell him that you let him get drugged and left him that way."

The appreciative looks from Duchess Melanie and Dowager made her cheeks flush.

The whispered curses from Dietfried, that stood in search of smelling salts, then calling for a Maid to fetch it, reminded her that he would not easily forget that she had berated him when he had stood up for her, and that he would remind her one day of it.

Nevertheless, not once, but twice did he defend her this morning.

 _What compelled him to do such a thing?_

* * *

 **O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0O**

* * *

"Oh Violet! I can't believe you are here!" Luculia embraced her when they laid eyes on one another, twirling her around at the horse stables where she had been waiting to receive her, giddy with her happiness. "I am so happy I can die!"

"Please don't." Violet remarked quickly.

Luculia said she was only joking, and Violet giggled with her joyful friend, trying to see what was funny but failing.

"What brought you here in the first place? I never told you I was here." Luculia questioned, desperate to know and Violet itching to tell her. "Did you come to write some letters? Have you just started or just finished?" The look in her eyes said she hoped it was the former, for at least they could spend some time together before they went their separate ways. She did not know the half of it.

"I did get a request to come here, I suppose Claudia signed me up to teach the orphans about typing."

"Oh." Luculia rubbed the back of her head. "That might be my fault. I asked him if he could lend a Doll to help me teach my typing classes. Would it be terrible if I told him that you would be my best option? I can't believe you got into that mess with the shooter, you are fine now aren't you, it didn't scare you off did it?"

"I'm fine." Violet bid her not to worry. If only Luculia knew how capable she was, what she was afraid of. The Major's slumbering form when she left to find Luculia, how her heart dropped to her stomach every time she left his sight, or he hers. _Would that feeling ever fade?_

"Well I'm glad it didn't scare you off, I always knew you were tougher than you looked." Her friend's worry was endearing. Violet took it all in, smiling as Luculia continued, taking her arm into the crook her arm, her hand patting her hand, so comfortable Violet could be fooled that they had been doing this far longer than the four years they had known each other. "If I knew that was going to happen then I never would have requested he send you. I feel guilty that I tried to get him to pick you over all the rest of the Dolls."

"Oh no Luculia." Her hands held her dearest friend. As they walked out of the stables and the railing of the one of the fences leading out to the pastures surrounding the Summer Palace. "I am glad you did. If you didn't I would never have met the Major again, I would never have got to tell him-"

"Wait! The Major! YOUR MAJOR!" Luculia was beyond hysterical now, a blubbering mess after remembering the stories that Violet had shared with her. "How did it happen? How did you guys meet?"

Violet explained everything. To meeting Sophie, bypassing the fact that Charlie was the exact replica of the Major, and moving to the climatic shooting, Dietfried keeping the truth from her for years, the Duchess revealing that the Major had been here all along, and of course the first meeting, the night in the hut, and a fragmented conversation of the private one that she was not sure the Major would want others to know. Some things were just not mean to be shared, Violet knew Luculia would understand.

"You mean our Gabriel, our blacksmith, is your Major?"

"That's not really his name…" Violet felt her bite her tongue, grasping Luculia firmly now. "No one can know the truth Luculia. You must swear to me, no one can know that the Major is alive, and that he is under a new alias for his safety. You have to promise."

"Of course, I promise." She declared with every bit of sincerity that she knew Luculia was capable of. It was no wonder she had no qualms telling her this. "This is the best thing I have heard, _ever!_ I am so happy."

"I am too."

"Yes." Luculia said, eyes glowing while watching Violet smile so brazenly, a new Violet than the last she had seen at the Air Show. "I can see it now. In my eyes, you deserved this Violet. You deserved to find your love and get your happiness. I am just so happy that I was here when you did. It makes me want to introduce you… oh come this way, I am sure he has the time for us." She led Violet to where the horses were left for the day, left to roam the fields for exercise, grazing, and training.

"Look, he's over there." At first Violet thought she was pointing out the black stallion.

A massive war-horse pranced before them, a trained beast. He pranced proudly, his rippling pictorials moving as he danced, knowing he had an audience watching, and only making it more difficult for his rather patient trainer to real him back to his calm trotting state. Before they had exited the stables, the horse had been running in the pen, being taught to trot by his trainer it would seem, now, Violet was surprised a horse of his size would be anything but wild and overpower those humans that dared to break any part of that feral spirit.

"He is a beautiful horse." She put it lightly. Imagining what it would be like to ride a horse like him, to feel the swift power as they flew on the green grass sea of the hills facing off the sea.

"Not the horse silly." Luculia chuckled, hugging Violet from the side. "My fiancé, Lukas."

"Oh."

She meant the trainer.

Luculia's fiancée had fair skin, fair that it burned in the sun instead of tanning. His red cheeks she could even see from a distance, it matched nicely with his onyx black hair, his muscled body ready for the devastating force the beasts of travel and war could impose upon his less than powerful body. His calloused hands dark from falling to the earth after being thrown off and holding onto the reigns for dear life when he was swept onto the saddle of the cantankerous snorting beast.

When he was once again on top of the black stallion, reigning it in, he made it trot to them. "Hello Ladies." He pulled the reigns back, the horse tipping it head. They both chuckled. "I am Lukas Greenmarch, at your service."

"Violet Evergarden at yours."

The horse reared back when he pulled on them sending the horse into a speedy gallop, first away, trotting around the perimeter of the fenced enclosure, and then straight up to both Luculia and herself. Her friend did not shy away from the beast or the man that sat securely on it. As if he had been born to it Violet would even say.

When he at last jumped from the horse, letting it free to run around, bucking to its own pleasure. He ducked out before it lands him a kick as his back was turned. Violet had a sense that he knew what he was doing, or had been doing it for some time, because he moved right before the beast that had followed his orders got a nip from the top of his head.

"He's a wild one, be careful Lukas!" Luculia found it hilarious. Violet had yet to stop seeing her smile so wide or laugh so hard. She was truly a changed woman. Cattleya had said that love did that to many women, sometimes without them even knowing it. "My Lukas has a way with horses, _don'tcha hunny_?"

"The wild ones are my specialty." His dark blue eyes sparkled when they met Luculia's. A stark contrast to his dark black hair and fair skin. Luculia had got her prince after-all, one that tamed wild horses, and looked serine while doing it. Violet even had to look to the Seagrave Orphanage as they kissed each other enthusiastically, thoughts of the Major having special moments like that made her blush so fully, and to make matters worse they both asked what was wrong.

"Is the heat getting to you? Would you like me to get you some water?" There was something familiar as Violet looked up at trainer's blue eyes. Almost as if her brain was telling her to remember something. It made her mechanical hand want to snap up and cover her face from the bright sun, from his too-bright smile.

"No, I'm fine, I am going to go look for the Ma- I mean Gabriel, he promised me a tour of the gardens."

Luculia was hugging her now, "of course you do! We will talk more later. I'll fill you in on everything we have planned for this next semester." She was enthusiastic at the prospect of working together, that she planted a quick kiss on her cheek, "go get him sister. Don't waste another second."

* * *

 **O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0O**

* * *

Violet walked the halls and premises of the Seagrave Orphanage with her gloved hand in the crook of the Major's warm arm, given a proper tour as he put it.

She felt utterly content to stroll the gardens as they had just done a second time now. The warm sun kissing her cheeks and head. For once she wondered if she had packed any other dresses, at least ones that could feel the sun on more than just her head, summer was very nice in Leiden and with the sea-breeze perhaps even more so. It seemed to calm the Major, calm him from the upset he had been experiencing when she returned to him.

Earlier, before the Major and her had taken to walking. Violet had returned to the Dowager's tea-room where he had been waiting for her to return. A little impatiently he waited. When she spotted him tapping his arm, his foot, leaning his head into the pillar behind him as if he had a headache from thinking so hard. She knew that he was probably wondering if she had run off from the cranky old Dowager and in retrospect him as well… _oh Major, did he not trust her?_ Violet meant it that she would never want to leave his side, _how silly he was being._ She guessed he would think the same with the fearful gut-wrenching sensation she got when she left in the first place.

"He hasn't stopped doing that since we told him you left." Violet met the Captain's smug smile. "Calm him, down won't you?" He was thinking the same thing too.

"Violet, you're back." The Major spotted her, his lone sea-green eye widening at the sight of her. "Were you looking for something?

"I went to speak with Luculia. She is a friend of mine." She told the Major that stepped close to her, as if he was going to whisper a secret. She told him kindly. "I told the Captain I was coming right back." A part of her was upset that his older brother did not play his part very well. Perhaps he meant to see his brother worried, found it funny with the smug Cheshire cat smile he was sporting now. "There is no need to worry over me Major."

"Yes, you're right." The Major gave in, seeing the look his brother and her shared at his expense. It did not make him nearly as embarrassed as it should. "But, is it alright if I steal you away for a moment. There were a few things I wanted to talk about." _Just a moment_ , she wanted to tease, but held herself back. That was the playfulness she had with Luculia, the Major… seemed not to be in a playing mood. The wrinkles in his forehead refusing to smooth out.

He told Dietfried and Melanie that they needed time to themselves.

The look that Gilbert shared with Dietfried at the words, and the shake of hands probably should have meant that she says her goodbyes to his older brother now too, but the Major's hand in hers, it had found hers when he stated they needed time alone, it distracted her too fully for anything else.

They entered a particularly long hallway together, silent save for their footsteps.

He stopped at a door at the end of this hallway, a key around his neck that he used to open it and let her walk in first.

"We won't be bothered here."

 _Good,_ she thought, _she had a few things to say as well._ But first, her breath was stolen. Little painted cherub angels danced across the ceiling, gold painted roses crept up the pillars of the rose-tinted room, and an open balcony to the Leiden ocean beyond. To her left, a pristine white king-sized bed took up most of the living space. Another door that probably lead to the restroom and she wondered why it was the Duchess and Charlie never wanted to live here. It was a lovely room, warm, bright, and it made the Major's eye dance with sunlight, even the dark brown of his eye-patch seemed brighter here.

"Do you like this room?" He asked.

"Yes, I do, I like it very much." Perhaps a bit more than that. She had never seen such a lovely room. The feeling as if she was outside but not made her feel content to stay here all day.

Of course, in anyone asked, her attic space at the CH Postal Company was still home, but this room had been made and furnished with the greatest attention to detail, someone had loved this room. "It's so open, I can smell the sea." The decor reminded her of the guest room she had slept in when she had helped Princess Charlotte write her own letters. Not as lavish, but close enough. Nevertheless, she preferred this one because it had Leiden's sea and of course the Major.

"Then it is yours." He gave her the key to the room.

He dropped the golden tinted key into her open palm, it was bright against her own metal hand. "You can come and go as you please. If you wish to go back to Leiden and work at the CH Postal Company, or." He paused. "Come back here to visit when you feel like it. The Dowager has given me permission to grant you this room for any length of stay." His voice faltered. "If you feel inclined to have."

She felt her throat clench. "Of course, I will keep the room."

"So, you're going to stay here." He mused, edging and then finally saying it. "For how long you will be staying?" It was like he was fighting with himself as he said it. She could not tell if he wanted to have her here or not. Violet was not sure, _what length of stay would be appropriate for him, or if he care what others thought if she only came back to see him?_

 _It is not appropriate from a woman to sleep under the same roof as an unwed man._ She remembered Duchess Melanie saying that piece of advice to her. What she really meant to say was, _under he same roof, in the same bed, with a man that she was so desperately in love with._ Because the more she spent time with the Major the harder it was for her to ignore it. Harder to pretend that leaving him here seemed impossible after each day that passed.

"Well, we will just have to see." Violet changed the subject. "Why did you pick this one?" She thought the room too pretty for the likes of her. Certainly, there were better choices for an Auto Memories Doll, not even a royal or family member, this room was meant for far more impressive girls and woman than her.

"It was my mother's room." He surprised her. "She would keep this room when she came to stay." The Major rubbed the back of his head, hiding the flush that stained his cheeks. "And I suppose it was a gift to her, that the Dowager gave to me, and now I want to give it you. So that you have options."

"Options." Violet weighed his words. "What do you mean?"

"That you don't feel forced to stay with any-one of my pushy female friends. I can see that it bothers you, you like it here." He had noticed that too. "Perhaps being close to your friend Luculia would be better for your classes. You wouldn't have to walk so far or wake up so early."

All she heard was. " _Female friends?"_ So, the Duchess and him weren't close like that. The greedy green monster inside cackled gleefully. "Is that what the Duchess and Sophie are? Your female friends." Something about it made Violet laugh, and the Major to stop rubbing the back of his head and smile down at what he saw.

"Well they are more like family to the Bougainvillea mangrave, but I have been away for so long, this War, what it has done to our lives. I am not sure of many things that I once was." He shrugged, turning to the side that beheld the balcony facing off against the sea. "You know even if Old Maude did slip me a sleeping potion, I did still hear what she said to you."

" _Old Maude?"_

"The Dowager, she hates being called that." He corrected. "More importantly what you said to stop her criticisms, and I have to say." He turned back to her, his longer than usual hair falling into his face. "I am proud of the things you came up with, about not letting this War control our lives, and about living free." His voice became soft, as if he too was remembering the Battle of Intense. The words that had so fully changed her life. "When did you grow up so fast?"

"Well." She remembered Luculia kissing her handsome fiancée this morning, or a night when she had awoken in the Major's cot in that humble hut of his, and the thought of him touching her in ways she had never even imagined before. "Perhaps it was when you weren't looking."

"Impossible." The Major whispered, seeming confused with her change of voice. As if he was just noticing that she dared to come closer than she needed to. "I never let you out of my sight."

"Perhaps that is where the problem lies." Violet said more seriously, lifting her hand up to the Major's brooch around her neck. Fiddling with it, a bad habit she had got whenever she ruminated of what could have been. "Perhaps I had to grow in order to survive a world without you."

 _Without you._

 _Without you._

 _Why were those words so heavy?_

The Major lost the smile.

He hummed, deep and low, as his eyebrows pulled together. Violet had seen him do this before. The first time a General had ordered him to dispose of her if she dared turn rogue. _She was better off dead than in the clutches of the enemy_ , the commanding officer had told the Major. _No one would notice one dead girl with hundreds of dead already left on the field._

Instead of shouting like he had at the General, the Major was tucking his chin in, thoughtful over the sad silence that had fallen over them like a house of quilts. It was as if he could feel the faint throb of pain that pulsed in her chest when she remembered the times she would have died to see him again. If only for a moment. "Without me." He repeated, moving closer, a breath away from her lips. "You were without me for a long time Violet, weren't you?" It was not a question. "I never knew _how_ long until I saw you."

Violet scrunched her lips, reaching into her mind palace. "Four years, two months, and sixteen days."

"Impressive." The Major smirked, but then returned to his pensive self. "I should have known you had been counting them." His words were barely louder the crunch of silk shoes on gravel. "Your memory never ceased to amaze me Violet, you were wonderful student." He brought his hand up to her cheek, faintly touching her cheek with the back of his fingers. The calloused knuckles were heavenly against her skin, his eyes following where they touched. "That means that you are going to make a great teacher."

 _I learned from the best_ , she first thought, but said. "You were a great teacher Major. I was very lucky to have you come into my life." _You saved me,_ she would have said if he didn't lean in.

His chin brush against hers, his cheek, and then his lips. Brushing and then planting a brief kiss against her cheek, and closer to her ear. "I was the lucky one."

If Violet was alone, she would have screamed.

Instead she just shook her head, smiling.

"What?"

"Nothing." she grinned widely now.

The Major shifted, just so she knew he was not going anywhere. In fact, he was coming closer. "Are you alright Violet? I want you to be honest with me. What is it that you need?" He did not mean it like that, he did not mean it lightly. He meant what had she been waiting for. He was testing her, and Violet was not sure if she was as strong as he thought her to be. For once she didn't feel like lying to him.

"I want you to hold me." She whispered, afraid of her own voice, especially when she could smell him, and wanted his pine and soap scent that was distinctly him to wrap her in its warm embrace and never dare to leave.

His hands began moving, twining themselves in her braided blonde hair. "I can do that." The Major held her to him, as if she would slip from out of his hold. "I might not let you go Violet." He murmured over her head. "I might keep you trapped here forever."

She chuckled lightly. "Maybe I wouldn't mind that."

The Major was peering into her eyes, the relief in his eyes made her want to kiss him. "When did you get so funny?"

Violet wasn't joking.

* * *

 **O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0O**

* * *

 _She is dreaming._

 _Mist and shadow._

 _She walks into swirling mist and mindful of the creeping shadows. Twilight and twain between two worlds appear before her, it all seems unreal, a milky covered reality. A white light door is what she makes out first. She opens it, feeling as if it has been waiting for her, and passing into the threshold of the door is not hard. She is met with a more serious dream than she had been expecting._

 _She enters a room she does not recognize, with three men that she has never met, and that are entirely unaware of her presence. Had she not been sleeping in her warm bed? Why did her mind wander here? Why was she not paying attention to their moving mouths?_

 _"I am tired of your excuses General." Says a golden-haired man at an imperial looking desk. A hard glint in his steel glasses from the milky light. His hands before him as if in prayer. What strikes her is his rather prominent chin, she always found it handsome in a man. Except now, she was not so sure. "I expected you to do this one thing better than anyone else, that you were the man for the job. Ambition. Cunning. A resolve to do what it takes. That is what I told many of my friends that invested in your success, and I am not lying when I say many people are disappointed in your failure. In other words, they lost a great deal of money." The General fidgets in his seat. "Was I wrong to think that you could be useful to me? That I could put my faith in you?" He was the one in charge from the looks of it, and he did not balk in his authority that was for sure._

 _"No Sire."_

 _"No?" The leader braced his arms against the desk that separated them. "Then why is the boy still breathing? Why is the Doll that protected him still alive?"_

 _The mysterious General has no words to answer him._

 _Instead the pressure seems to be making him break, beads of sweat rolling down his face, and she is sure whatever his answer is will not be enough to save him._

 _"Look Master." A third speaker crept into the vision. "You're making him shake."_

 _The third is no less interesting than the two, perhaps even more. Tall and lean, a man built like a dagger, with blonder hair than the leader, and graced with frigid icy eyes that seem to glow in this light. "You were given one job General Merkulov. One job to see it through and you let a girl with no arms stop you?" His proud laugh was malicious. "Is that all it takes to stop you from completing the missions my master gives you. A little girl that refuses to die?"_

 _"The Leidenschaftlich Maiden is no mere girl." The General curled his lip. "If you fought in the War like the rest of us, you would have known that."_

 _She could feel the hairs on her arms raise._

 _The room dropped a few degrees as the two men regard one another._

 _"Play nice you two." The leader chuckled, standing and facing his tall and lean apprentice fully, they were nearly equal in size. The leader was shorter, and yet that did nothing to quell the aristocrat air, the presence of a man that knew more than he should. It crept with him like aftershave. "There he did not mean it." He patted the apprentice's back, shaking him from his stiff form, it reminded her of the way owners would jerk their canines from lashing out at strangers. "Don't let the General antagonize you, you know how talented you are." He remarked, flashing him a too-bright smile, as if he wanted to take a bite of him with it. "Besides, your attitude to my associates looks bad on me as your mentor. How many times should I tell you before you get it past your over inflated ego? Feelings get you nowhere in this line of work."_

 _"Yes, Master." Was his clipped answer. "You're right. I am better." He rubbed it in to the General that gave him an answering death glare. Nevertheless, she believed the apprentice. With his unusually slim build, it was no surprise if he could get into most well-guarded places just for the hell of it._

 _"Well I am still waiting for my answer General Merkulov?" The Master tipped his head back to the barred door that appeared from the shadows, back to the cavernous black of the room. "Perhaps I should get Isidor to answer me, if you can't find me a plausible reason. I am sure whatever is left of him will give me the answers I need." There was a man yelling and another moaning from behind that barred door. He made it seem as if one of those was this faceless Isidor. Whatever it was they were doing to him, made the General shake once more._

 _"I miscalculated. That is my reason. Please leave the boy alone."_

 _"Miscalculated?" The Master said as if he had never heard the word._

 _"Yes, I miscalculated." The General repeated softer. "I can't go back and rewrite the past. What is done is done, there will be more chances for us. Perhaps someone of a better record could finish this mission-" he regarded the Apprentice that waited at the beck of his Master."Isidor should not suffer for my miscalculations."_

 _"I see." The Master made no move to save the beating Isidor was receiving, almost as if he was upset with the distracting noise rather than the act. "So, you are telling me that despite your best efforts. You are unfit to meet my standards." The Master did not move a muscle, his mouth abnormally rigid to the point where she wondered if his lips had even moved. "Then there we have it. There is nothing left to say."_

 _"I'm sorry my Sire, I did everything you asked-"_

 _Unfortunate for the General, he did not turn to his left, failing to see the glint of metal, and the lazy swing of a blade as it sliced through air meeting flesh and bone._

 _She screamed when the General's gaping head rolled to her feet._

 _She did not feel true terror until the murderer of the General looked up at her, as if only now noticing her. Completely ignorant of his Master standing up behind him and regarding her as well._

 _"She can't leave Marius."_

 _That is when the apprentice, Marius, truly looked in her direction, noting her presence, how far she was to him, and his icy luminescent eyes drawing her in as his feet turned to her. "Don't you dare run!"_

 _She tensed._

 _Marius' next vicious swing was for her, he moved fast enough for her to believe he was flying, swishing the air like a hornet from its nest, aiming at her heart, the blade meeting her skin and lung, the sting and weight as it plunged in, the give of her body made, taking in his blade as it tore her insides-_

"No!"

* * *

 **O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0O**

* * *

 **CATTLEYA POV**

"No!" Cattleya screamed.

The buxom dark-haired Doll leans up in her own bed, breathing loudly, sweating, wearing her skin-tight camisole, her hair tucked into a wild braid that seemed to be almost loose from her violent tossing and turning. The sheets are clutched tight in her clenched hands, she was sure with the tightness in her chest, the apprentice was still trying to drive his blade into her and finish her before she got away. Her eyes darted madly around the room, as if the would-be murderer was ready to jump from the dark corners of her bedroom, and get her, cut her, murder her… that is when a man's hand clamps over her tense thigh.

"Ah!"

An annoyed. "Cattleya." Is the grumble she gets from Claudia. His half-asleep eyes look up from the pillow, his gorgeous dark red mop of hair is loose and hangs around his neck and cheeks. Sleep still heavy over him, his words slurred with it. " _Wut's wrong_?"

She is so relieved to see him that she forgets to breath. "I was in a dream and it felt so real."

"Dreaming." He mumbles, tucking his head into his pillow, annoyed shouldn't look so good on him, but right now she can't notice that, can't notice anything but the blade that had yet to reach her heart. "Cattleya? Your shaking."

 _"Look Master." The murderer, Marius, crept into her line vision, a wolf prepared for slaughter. "You're making her shake."_

She was not finished. "As if it was all happening in the real world, and I couldn't do anything to stop it. I couldn't move, I couldn't speak, only listen as they interrogated a poor man. They did it until he was dead." Claudia's sleepiness left, he leaned closer to her, and began rubbing her thigh.

"What happened in the dream?" He knew to ask. "Was it a memory?"

"No. I didn't recognize them. That is what made it so scary."

"Who was in it?"

"It was about a General and a Master, and his apprentice." Those icy eyes that struck terror in her. It was as if he had no soul left in him. "And they were talking about the Leiden Maiden, a battle doll without any hands, and another person that she protected." Cattleya saw the same worry she had come over him. Even if it seemed unnecessary when she said it out loud, at times he worried worse than her, and she was glad for it now. "I think they were talking about Violet Claudia, our Violet. Oh God, I know they were talking about Violet! She is the only one they could be talking about. They were not good people Claudia." That was not even the whole truth. "I think Violet is in danger, we have to warn her, we have to find out-"

"Hold on, hold on." He rubbed her leg harder, leaning into her and kissing her shoulder as if his priority was to calm her back to the woman he had gone to sleep with. "Think about this, okay. It is not even morning yet, and Violet is still in Leiden, she is in a safe place." For some reason she believed him, he would have no reason to lie to her. For the years she had known him, even the intimate ones, he was not a liar. He _is not_ a liar. "We can go and talk to her in the morning."

"We will?" Cattleya felt stupid for happy tears to go down her face, it was only a dream.

"Of course, we will, if it bothers you this much of course we will."

Cattleya didn't care if it was too early in the morning, she kissed Claudia, _soundly_ , with great appreciation for the sincerity of listening to her story, believing her, and she kissed and kissed until that was not only thing they used their bed for, and she forgot why she felt so terrible in the first place.

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 **SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO!: Guest #1!, Pandemonium333, LanaLitItUp, yubima-chan, Annmunition, and the lovely KennaChanMaiden.**

 **Guest #1:** Yes! I am so so surprised and thankful you would be willing to take that incredible undertaking. I am sure it must be so frustrating to read a story that is written in another language, love to see what you do! Tell me if you need any help! I will be updating the chapters as I can so sorry if I update all my written chapters in one day that I am free. I promise to add the dates at the beginning of the chapter so you can see if I update, which to be honest I do regularly so sorry for that. Have a lovely weekend, love to see if you have a fan fiction account, maybe you could upload it there, love to see the fanfic even if my Russian is terrible ;)

 **Pandemonium333:** Awww *blush* shucks thanks you're the best! Hope you enjoyed this next chapter

 **LanaLitItUp:** thank you for your review! I hope you enjoyed the new chap.

 **yubima-chan:** You are the most loyal and consistent reviewer for Violet Evergarden fandom, I see you everywhere! Get down, yes, I hope this next chapter wasn't too painful, there was some lovely parts I think, tell me what you would like to see in this next chapter, love to hear what you have to say! Keep up the power of your reviews, they are great ;)

 **Ammunition:** I love your name by the way. You're review was very heartfelt thank you for that. I am so glad to see you picked up on that, I was not sure if others would get it, and I put a bit of Dietfried in here, hope that you liked what I did here! I would be so ever thankful to hear what you expect or want to see, I am open to suggestions, have a wonderful weekend!

 **KennaChanMaiden:** Your review is greatly appreciated! Sorry for the long wait, life reared it's crazy head with tests and you know, but I am glad you liked the previous chapter, I hope this next lived up to your expectations, tell me what you want to see for the coming chapters, and where you would like to see Violet and Gilbert's relationship go.

 **AN: Thank you for everyone that joined our big happy family on this fandom, you guys are my soul food. Honestly, I live to see what you guys want to see for this story, I know it's not healthy, but right now this is just a place for our fantasies for this series to grow and get freed. I hope that you champion any of the new chapter scenes, or tear them down, both would be great, tell me what you guys think! As always your reviews fuel my laptop, hope you all have a very wonderful February weekend!**

 **Stay safe and stay happy!**

 **Love,**

 **Odeveca**


	10. Of Stories and Sea Foam

**_Updated: 04/22/2019*_**

* * *

 ** _"Of Stories and Sea Foam."_**

* * *

 **CLAUDIA POV**

Cattleya awoke with an aggressive energy.

He had watched her throw clothes, and clothes, and clothes to find what she needed to wear to meet the Vivace royalty. She seemed rushed in a way that he knew was not nerves, he had never seen her like this, and frankly it terrified him.

Then it came his turn.

He never dreaded living with her… _until now._

Now, Claudia rubbed the cotton bow-tie and clothes that she had found tucked away at the bottom of his closet. For good reason. He had meant to never wear the suit his mother had bought for him and his older brothers. He felt suffocated, sticky and especially suffocated in this suit, itchy too. There was a reason why he stuck to overalls and thin shirts, especially in Summer.

Why had he agreed to walk out of the Company looking like this?

Benedict had been laughing his ass off when he saw him, fell right out his chair, well, after he tipped it over in how upset he felt. But, it wasn't until he was soaked to the bone in sweat from walking so far to get here, that is when he truly regretted wearing it. What if someone saw him? Reported it back to his parents? What if they made a fuss about him not measuring up to the Hodgins name, and sent his mother into another harpy rage of hers?

 _As if there weren't enough things to worry about._

"You look like a sweaty beast." Cattleya said to him to make it worse.

He scowled at her. "I do not."

And she gave him a look his mother would be proud of.

"Well, you'll just have to do. Right now, we need to focus on Violet." She emphasized. "Let's get our Violet and make sure she's all right." She sighed loudly and knocked on the Palace doors, looking cool and collected next to him, her impressive flowery dress had him looking anywhere and everywhere other than her, and she knew it, found it funny. "Don't worry I'll _relieve_ you once they give us a room-"

 _She couldn't mean._

Her violet eyes smirked as if they hadn't already spent the early morning doing all the things her eyes told him. That face of hers, those lips, they reminded him. That supple neck drove him crazy. Those- "Umm-"

The Palace doors opened.

Cattleya unaffected as Claudia sputtered. She asked. "Hello, I am Cattleya Baudelaire, and this is Claudia Hodgins of the CH Postal Company." She introduced themselves with flawless grace, something she had picked up in her time after Flugel. "We are close friends of Violet Evergarden. Could you be so kind to point us in the right direction so that we may speak to her?"

"She is not here now. Would you like to wait?" The Maid at the vast front doors of the Palace said to them. The servant had inky black bob, and grey eyes hid behind bulbous glasses. "I can provide audience with the Duchess in the meantime. She… has been expecting you to come and check on her."

"Violet's not here?" Claudia butted in, feeling at lost to why she wouldn't be. "I thought her business was to help write letters for the orphanage here. That is what I expected when I wrote my letter-"

"She's been busy, she has her own business." The Maid put it plainly. "She spends her time with the Major now."

Claudia felt his insides freeze and thaw at once. He couldn't speak, think, breathe. Perhaps she meant another Major. _There were other Majors right?_ Not every Major could be him.

Thank God for Cattleya. " _The Major_? You must be joking, this is not something that you should joke about." She spoke heatedly to the Maid. Claudia always admired that side of her. The protective one when it came to her girls, and especially Violet after that dream that upset her so badly. "You can't mean Major Bougainvillea. It can't be."

"Yes, that Major."

"Well." Cattleya huffed, disturbed. "Then that means that she must have been torn to pieces at the sight of him, you have no idea what she has gone through." She demanded. "She must have needed us. Needed someone here when he got that news. I just don't even know what to say right now. I am so upset we weren't notified immediately." Her hand reached for his, even she knew what uttering his name would do to him.

There was a mischievous twinkle in the Maid's eyes. "They left an hour ago, heading to the beach. I think you both should go meet them."

"The beach." Claudia muttered, his neck twisting to where the Maid nodded to.

"Oh yes, you should make haste. I think she would like that very much." She chuckled, righting her glasses further up her nose. "In fact, I am sure of it."

* * *

 **O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0O**

* * *

An hour ago, the Major and Violet had left the Palace's grounds.

Left the Duchess, Sophie, the Dowager, and even the curious peeping faces of the younger orphans behind.

Violet caught herself looking twice over her shoulder to spot small heads in the classroom's windows. The orphans were watching as they headed towards the beckoning call of wave and salt. They both, walking side by side, walked further past the Major's Hut she had stayed on her first night here, and took a dirt path that led to a hill spattered with bright swaying and honeybee swarming colors.

The Major had taken her someplace she couldn't stop staring at, it stole her breath. "It's gorgeous!"

"Let's take a closer look." They came off the trail now, the Major taking her hand, and leading her to the place she wanted to go.

Now, every one of her footfalls was filled with small flowers. Violet glanced back to admire the bunches of larkspurs climbing toward the sun along the roadside that led to the sea. She skipped, and soft petals seemed to grow under her springing feet in the cracks of the grassy and flowered wonderland.

"This place." She wanted to say more, looking over the expanse of wildflowers, the magnitude of it overwhelming her senses, especially smell. Her nose would be runny come afternoon, but she could barely seem to care. "It's like a dream." His presence made it more so. "It's like I have been here before."

"Come this way Violet."

"Okay."

He took a sharp turn, as if he was walking toward the ledge, getting far too close, but then she made out a declining pathway to the Sea that she knew that they had come for.

Perhaps it was because as soldiers, once-masters of endurance, they were suited to transverse all types of terrains. Nevertheless, they hardly needed any breaks to begin with, and in a matter of half an hour they made it to the pale cream, foot-sinking, sand-covered coastline.

Before them, the water was calm for once.

The rocks breaking the waves farther off and creating a crescent like beach that they were standing before now. The water was rich aquamarine, so clear she could see the seaweed swaying to the beat of the waves below. Swirls and splashing of the water were not only from the current, but from slick silver that would jump and swim off when she came for a closer look. There were tidepools as well, the Major following, as she explored without a thought but to see the small side-ways crawling crabs, dormant mussels latched onto the moist underside of the rocks, and the abundant and intricate fish ecosystems she had once heard Leon talk about in one of the stories they had translated together.

The Merlin King would meet his fair human where wave met sand. He would rendezvous among the tidepools with her, meeting his lover at the coastline of his kingdom every day that he could give. No further nor farther could he stay from her. He would not dare take her directly into his kingdom. She could not go, not without gills to sustain her, and he could not stay long without the lungs and breath he loved so much from his beloved. So, he made their love so. Just as the waves receded and crashed on the coastline, retreating and returning, so would he, until she was nothing but bone and memory, and he returned to a lonely God once more.

"Have you seen the Sea and beach before Violet?"

For the first time, she had forgotten the Major was there altogether. "Seen it?"

"Yes." He chuckled. "The way you lose yourself, it's like you've never seen it before." He stood back at the beach, his hands stuffed in his pockets, and a curiosity she had seen when she had told him about meeting with Luculia. "It's the way you looked when I gave you your name."

"But you said-" She did not understand, Sophie, Dietfried, even he had hinted at the loss of his memories for being shot in the head.

"I'm remembering." He muttered, staring at her, as if he could not truly understand it himself. "You make me remember things."

"I remember it too." She looked away for a moment, cooling the blush from he cheeks. "It was a good memory Major. I am happy that you are getting your memories back."

He made a face, as if he had swallowed a lemon whole. _"Major."_ He shook his head. "I never even gave you the chance to know my real name, but you can call me Gil, you know that right? Everyone does, or Gilbert. Never Bert though. I can't stand it."

They chuckled at the mention of Bert. She didn't much like it either.

She tried the names out, at least for him.

" _Gil_." Violet scrunched her nose. " _Gilbert_." It still felt wrong saying it, as if those names were meant for everyone else. "I can try them out. But is it alright." She dared to be so bold. "If when we are alone, I can call you Major Gilbert."

"Why?" It seemed that he didn't understand why she would continue to use it, as if he too found it odd that she refused to give the name up. "Why would you want to call me that when the War is over. That we are finally free of it, why should I be a Major even now? I have no soldiers, my men are dead." He said with such finality that it startled her. She had no idea that he felt so harshly against it. "My place in War is no more."

"Your right." Violet agreed, upset with herself, but wanting for him to understand all the same. "It's just the name means more to me than just Major." She started. "It's more than just the man I followed in War. It's what brought us together, and it was the first name I knew you by. It brings me great comfort." She revealed to him. "I don't mean it in a bad way."

The Major cocked his head, and then nodded slowly, he was trying to understand. "Okay, if it's what you want. I'll let only you call me that. If you care that much for it."

"I do."

"Okay." He cedes to her. "So, beaches." He chuckled, shaking off the serious tone they had made. "You've seen a few?" As if, he could not grasp the variety of people and places she had experienced in the past four years. She found herself staring at the sunburnt part of his cheeks as he looked back at her, they darkened under her inspection, and she stared far longer than was appropriate.

"Oh yes Major." She turned to her eyes to the Sun, to make herself stop. "I have seen many beaches." With languid grace she could not forget, she jumped from bolder to bolder, leaving her discovery of the tide-pools, and at last letting him help her down from the boulders she had hiked to get a better look. "When I came to Leiden, there are plenty of beaches, not like this one." She would not yet tell him that this was her very favorite by far, calm, a secret beach, a quiet beauty, and a piece of the coast they could call their own. Only since there seemed to be not a soul for miles around, perhaps in the whole world if they chose to believe it. "And I have seen others on my travels of the countries and states."

"Which ones?" He asked.

She told him as they walked of her travels as a Doll to various beaches, and then his eyes raising skyward when she mentioned some Galdarik lakes she had found to be as large as small oceans. They had been reflections of the Galdarik Mountains of ice and snow-capped peaks, rising grey and brown slopes, and then the perfect blue sky of winter days.

"I can't believe Claudia let you get that close to the Galdarik Empire, especially when tensions are still so high between our nations."

"He didn't make the choice, I did." She grinned when he did, he was starting to get that she did little now that did not agree with her, as any sane and normal person did. "He has always been watching over me Major. Just like you told him to do."

"I did, didn't I." He squinted at her, and she smiled back.

She explained more. "He is not only a boss to me but a very dear friend. I wouldn't be where I am without him. I think he would like to be here, he would love this beach." She was sure Cattleya, Iris, Benedict, even the Erica would enjoy it. They could make a day of it, and that made Violet smile brightly at the thought.

"I see." The Major lagged a bit. Their footsteps disappearing with the smoothing touch of waves, and then it lapped at their still feet. "Is Claudia close to you?"

"Oh, he is Major." He was practically family to her now. Her sisters of the pen, and then there was Claudia. A man with the growing heart of a father. "We are very close."

"Hmm." He rolled on the balls of his feet, squinting, looking across the great expanse of water instead of her. "How is that CH Postal Company? Is it everything he said it would be? I heard his brother Ashley say it once. From what I heard from Mel, he sounds as if he completed this and more, a very accomplished and talented man he has become. Very close to you too." He rubbed his finger against his mouth, a motion she was noticing that he did when he tried to stop what he was really thinking about. "A lovely service he has done to bring people that are miles apart together once more. A worthy man you must think."

"Yes, he brings people that are miles apart." She muttered. "We know all about that don't we?" She dared to say, looking out across the water as he did. He was no longer smiling. She suspected something. "Why do I feel as if you are upset Major?"

"I'm not."

"You are." She bit back quickly. "I can hear it in your voice, see it on your face."

He made a face just to prove her point right. "If Claudia is so close to you, why are you here, and he's not? You've been here a few days, and he hasn't even come to call. If I…"

She felt a jolt zap through her. "If you?" She egged him. "What would you do Major?"

"I know what you think." The Major folded his arms across his chest, his neck muscles flexing as he grinded his teeth. Deliberating. Then he said. "You think I am jealous of him. That I can't stand hearing about his accomplishments and your appreciation of him."

Now that was just silly. She questioned. "Is that how I feel?"

"I think." He forced out, his body screaming that he was not happy. "I think, that I am not so entirely sure I like this arrogant side of you Violet."

She bit back the frustration of him finding fault with her. A ghost memory of when she would have fought with all her might to gain his approval. "I disagree." She was so far from that girl now. Instead she responded with what she would tell anyone that believed her snooty enough to be arrogant. "I like to call it confidence."

"No, it's being smug." He interjected in. "I think that you believe you know my emotions before I even know them myself, and you think that disadvantage is what upsets me so, but it's not that." He revealed it to her, no longer holding back. "You grew Violet, you grew, and I wasn't there to see it. I feel as if I was only able to read the first chapter of a book, and then forced to skip to the end. It feels as if I've been cheated. I lost out Violet, that is how I feel."

"This isn't the end of my story Major, at least I hope not. I still have a great more years if the Fates allow."

"Your right." He agreed. "I'm just being silly. I just hoped to understand you, of what changed you."

"Then let me tell you about it." She grasped his bicep so he returned to look at her. "Let me tell you all my stories." Her arrogance or confidence, whatever it was he called it, was what tugged him to the large piece of ashy white driftwood, long and thick enough to sit on.

They sat on it.

"What if I feel the same way I do now, even after you tell the stories?" He revealed his greatest fear. The reason why he never seemed calm when she said and did things the old Violet could never have done. "What if I still feel like I lost out? That this new part of you will continue to remind me of what made us separate in the first place. That perhaps I don't fit in this new life you made for yourself, that maybe you would be better off if you never found me in the first place-"

"Major." She had to stop him. "Stop it." That wasn't him talking. It was his fear, his insecurity. "I think we still owe it to ourselves to try."

Violet was done seeing him like this. She reached over, and held onto his hand, bringing it into her lap, and patting her other hand over their entwined fingers.

Only then she spoke of the first time she had meet Claudia after the War.

She had been writing a letter to the Major in fact.

It was the first letter she had written all by herself. By chance, a powerful rush of wind had taken hold of the paper, and she remembered it had flown out the window before she could catch it. Fading into the wild wind that carried it far away from her. She mentioned how it hurt to think that her words were forever gone, hurt more than when Claudia came to pick her up when she soon after fell from her bed, and how she expected the Major to be there. Violet never expected the journey she would undertake in searching for him, then herself.

Through the conversation, the Major kept his hand holding hers.

* * *

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* * *

 **CATTLEYA POV**

"She said the beach, but how are we supposed to get there?"

All she could see was a hill of wild flowers.

Amongst them, she feared the bees, she had been stung once, never again, and another thing was her feet hurt so bad in these heels. She would be dead tonight, she was sure she had a few blisters, not that she was going to stop when she was already so close. Nevertheless, it was ridiculous that no one came _to show_ them the path that Violet and the Major had taken to the beach. "Claud, do you know where we are going?"

"I have no idea." He growled in frustration, taking the lead and going down the path for her, and then taking another, upset that every time he came to the ledge, all he found was a sheer drop, and not a Violet or Major in sight it would seem. "It should not be this hard. The path should be here."

"Well then don't get frustrated, we are too close to give up now."

"I am not giving up Cattleya."

She did not like that tone of his. "Well getting upset about things you can't control. That is not the attitude you want to have when you travel. When I get like that, I stop what I am doing, take a deep breath, and think positive. That is something you should do."

"I will."

"You don't see me showing how upset I feel. It's control." Cattleya took a deep breath, showing him that he could do it too. "I know it helps me. When Violet sees us again she doesn't need us being upset with her and God forbid the Major. I don't want to see you blowing up at him when Violet has waited so long to be reunited with him. I know you have history together, and him keeping this a secret from you is not the best of choices he might have made, but you don't need to make this about you."

"Hmm."

"I mean it Claudia." She wagged her finger as they took a little path through the hill of flowers. Hoping that this was the right path to Violet. "You need to practical. You need to remain calm and see what Violet needs first."

"What if I need to vent Cat?" He swirled on her. "What if I am upset that he made Violet break, that he broke her heart, and stayed away from everyone when he was never dead in the first place. What if…" He tore off his bow-tie. "That I hate what I am wearing, I feel like I jumped in water, and I really don't want to be hiking through the wilderness. And I _especially_ don't want to take a deep breath and think positive when all I want to do is strangle Gilbert when I see him!"

Cattleya crossed her arms, shaking her head. "Are you done?" She asked him, upset that she had to be the voice of reason, especially when she too was frustrated than she should be. "Or do I need to take you back to the Palace, and go find her myself?"

"I'm fine." He grunted. "I don't want you walking alone out here. Come on I think I know the way."

"Wait." That was not enough, she pulled on his arm, getting him to face her again. The bees were not a concern, it was only Claudia. "You are better than this Claudia." He needed to hear that, to remember that when he saw Major Gilbert Bougainvillea again. She tried to make him understand how important his reaction would be to Violet. "Don't let little things get the best of you, you want what is best for Violet." She could see that, anyone that knew them could see how much he had grown to love Violet. "So do I." She agreed, sharing that look they got when someone needed their help. "So that's my plan." She questioned him, seeing clarity come to his eyes. "What is that your plan? Or is this about yourself?"

"That's my plan too Cattleya." He squeezed her hand, kissing the side of her head, sighing against her scalp. "I just let myself get so angry sometimes."

"I know." She grinned for a moment, and then Cattleya scowled at him. "A bad habit." She called him out, but knew that Claudia was one of the only people she knew that could pull a three-sixty when she asked for it. She enjoyed that part of him at least, "but you can control it. You have to tell yourself that, or risk making yourself look like a fool."

"Fine." He grunted. "I'll have better control."

"Good." Cattleya spotted a road that led to the face of the cliff. Getting a good feeling about this one. "Now that you got that out of your system. Let's go get her."

"Let's." He followed Cattleya, not letting her hand go as they hiked down to the beach.

* * *

 **O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0O**

* * *

"Will you say something now?"

"I don't know what to say Violet." He had been so quiet, so still, after she had finished recounting the Air Show and the letters that had once flown and rained words and dreams around her. He had asked her questions, sometimes insistent, other time thoughtful, but how, his arms were on his knees, he was completely pensive, and watching him staring off at the sunset reds and pinks splashing on the dark waves below had made her stop talking altogether.

She had told him so much already.

Of the Company, her home, the attic room, and the sense of belonging. Her friends. Her family. Claudia, The old Dietfried. Writing her first letter; a romantic letter that ended up angering both the recipient and the client, attending the Auto Memory Doll Training School in order to become a true doll, and writing party invitations for Iris and learning that sometimes some letters were not meant for her to send. Then she had wrote a public love letter for a Princess that inspired her to write her own letters, going on to transcribe with an Astronomer made Explorer that taught her the beauty of the stars, assist a famous writer, Oscar Webster, in writing his next play, and in the process inspire him to finish the story he was meant to write to his little girl. She had reminisced Ann and her Mother, and she broke down at the part where she told him of her travels to Ctrigal to find the client, Aidan Field. She had written his dying letter to his beloved Maria, and it had been the shifting point in how she could dare to forgive what she had done in the War…

At last, after glazing over recent events, she finished with the letter she had wrote to him flying amongst the masses of the Air Show, her retelling doing it little justice, but he seemed to be pleased with the outcome. He was silent, but she felt no frustration or upset feeling from him now. Quietly pensive, a King of the coastline, waiting, waiting for something.

"Will you not speak?"

He began with. "It's your stories." He gave so much weight in those words. "They got to me."

"Yes, I can see that."

"Don't get me wrong. They are incredible, they are worthy of being remembered." That relieved her to hear. "And yet I find them so sad."

"Why?"

"Because the memory of me haunted you every step of the way, never really allowed you to truly enjoy the experience, and I don't like that the memory of me caused you this much pain. I never wanted that. At least I believe it wasn't what I wanted."

He didn't believe? What was he saying?

"I have to be tell you Violet." He gave up his mystery. "I can't remember what I was like before the Battle of Intense. You were the last thing I remembered-" He reached up, touching his eye-patch, and then groaned as if he remembered the shot a soldier had taken at the Battle of Intense. "I'm lost in more ways then one Violet. I didn't want to burden you with it, but hearing your stories, you know who you are, and I can't, I can't, I struggle-"

"You struggle with remembering." She remembered Sophie's mention of him losing his memory. How could she have forgotten? This time she did not suspect. She just asked him the question instead. "Did you lose your memory Major?

"The last thing I remember was the Battle Intense, the bullet hitting me." He touched his eye-patch once more, patting it. "You are carrying me, you couldn't do it without your arms, and so I stopped you."

"I know."

"I stopped you because I knew what was coming. I wanted you to live."

"Live and be free." She muttered, knowing the words by heart now. "I did Major."

"It was the one thing that kept me going. I have no memories Violet from before, no memories of my mother when I was younger, of Dietfried, of Mel, of anyone before that moment." He threw a piece of broken driftwood at their feet. "I feel lost Violet, and I am not sure what will get them back."

"I'm glad you told me Major. That you trust me enough to tell me these things." That was the start of it. "Perhaps I can tell you things I remember from our travels, see if it awakens some of your memories."

"That is very kind of you Violet. Thank you. Dietfried tried too." He revealed to her. "It was one of the reasons why he wants me to go see our mother, perhaps for that fact alone, but I don't want to go see a mother I don't remember her. I don't think my amnesia would be very good for her."

"She loves you." Violet dared to say. "I think." She urged him. "I think when you're ready for that meeting, she ready for you too. She is a mother, and she deserves to see you happy. To see you safe and happy Major, I think that would mean the world to her."

"But am I happy…" He muttered immediately. She lost all the words she was going to say. "Can I be happy without remembering all the memories that were me? All I can remember is losing you, then losing myself in the War Camp, being tortured." He gripped his pants, his teeth gritting. "Tortured for things I could not even remember, all I could remember was you, and I knew they would hurt you to get to me, so I lied, and I lied, until Sophie found me, or what was left of me-"

"Oh Major." She had not expected him to reveal all of this. "I am so sorry, I wish I had been there."

"I didn't." He said cruelly.

She sucked in a breath.

"They would would have hurt you Violet." He continued. "They did things to woman there." He glazed over slowly. "The men too." He clutched his hands until his fists became white knuckles.

She dared to ask. "Did they do that to you?"

"VIOLET! VIOLET!" She whipped her head to the right and lo and behold, it was Cattleya! And Claudia!

"Cattleya, Claudia." Violet stood, still shaky after the answer she had yet to receive from the Major. "We are here!" She called out to them and so the Major beside her letting go of his dark look for an easy smile. Violet was frustrated and relieved which left her feeling just more frustration.

"Hey!" Cattleya yelled to her in happiness, scaring away the fearful conversation, and Violet watched as she removed her sinking heels and she was fast as she sprinted, sprinted so fast that Violet had never seen in her in such disarray.

In half a minute, she was in her embrace, swallowed in Cattleya's arms and chest, and her face was meeting up with her and kissing her soundly on both cheeks as if he was some small child, her child. "Oh, thank God! Thank God! You gave me a heart attack, I was looking for you everywhere!"

"I just tagged along." Was Claudia dry retort behind Cattleya, and then she was passed to Claudia and he was hugging her just as tightly, bending down to see her face. "You okay Violet."

"I'm fine." She assured him.

"Are you sure?"

"I said I'm fine.." She reassured. "I found the Major." She added as happily as she could. What Claudia needed was to know that she was beyond words and above the moon to know the Major was fine. What had happened to the Major at the War Camps would be a discussion they would have later. She smiled as widely as she could while her guardian searched her face, rendering Claudia speechless. "I am so happy."

"Good, I'm happy for you Violet. So happy you got to see him." Yet, he kept her in a side-long-embrace, not yet ready to release her back to the Major. The height difference was evident as he stared off at the Major. Staring-off did not even describe it. "So I guess this means you're not dead."

"I guess not." The Major smirked at serious looking Claudia. "So, you took care of Violet?"

"Of course." He rebutted instantly. "I said I would."

"Thank you for watching over her."

"I didn't do it for you." He mumbled back a bit too harshly, Violet catching it, and so did Cattleya.

"Claudia." Cattleya said his name as if she had expected this.

"No, I deserve it." The Major said in front of Claudia and Cattleya. "I was not there for you Violet when you needed me most, but I will be. I promise I will be there."

Violet wanted to give her own declaration as well, but Claudia bit back such as confidently, refusing to let her go back to the Major, as he hugged her more tightly. "We will have to see, won't we?"

* * *

 **O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0O**

* * *

When they got back from the beach, later on in the evening, Duchess Melanie gave them a personal tour of the Summer Palace. The group included the Duchess Mel, Claudia, Cattleya, herself, the Major, and she had even invited Luculia and Lukas, whom she wanted to introduce to Cattleya since she did know her for as long as she had Violet in some ways, and wanted to extend the wedding invitation for the following summer. "You can invite the Iris and Erica from the office too, I know how close you all are. If your family to Violet, your family to me too!"

"That is very kind of you Luculia." Cattleya agreed kindly.

"Be careful Luculia, you invite too many people you might have wedding crashers." Duchess Mel interrupted.

"We wouldn't bring people like that." Cattleya glared for the tenth time at the Duchess' choice of words.

"You never truly know." Duchess Mel put it. "The more the company the more the possibility of catastrophe. It's just rational to prepare for it, believe me,I know these things, if there is anything I know, _it's parties_." She declared proudly, and then proceeded to show them the vast art collection the Duke Great-Uncle was once interested in, and had made a small gala of three rooms in the West Wing.

To put it plainly, Mel's tour was far more extensive than the Major's tour he had given of the gardens, but Violet did not prefer it. Not with the way she treated; "Claudia's secretary," as she had mistaken Cattleya for instead of the "buisness partner" Cattleya corrected her with.

"I am so glad you made the time to come and personally see after Violet." Mel said to Claudia, latched at the arm with him if he liked it or not. "I have heard nothing but praises from her lips since the moment she came to us. Your coming here was just the right confirmation."

"Violet is a very kind, even to those that don't deserve it." Claudia sent a look to the Major, the same time Cattleya sighed loudly and began mumbling under her breath.

The Duchess spoke louder. "That is beside the fact. You are just in time dear cousin." Duchess Melanie had stolen Claudia's arm, pulling him farther away from Cattleya, and leading their little tour towards food. In the process she gave another dismissive look to Cattleya as if she wasn't even there. "Did you hear? Uncle is coming from Vivace, so both your cousins will be here, and the children." She turned side-long to Violet, explaining. "My husband and my brother-in-law Gus is who I mean. The babies travel everywhere with my husband, can't expect them to stay a day outside of Vivace as little heirs to the throne." She chuckled and tapped her lip playfully, Violet still wrapping her head around the Duchess having more children...

Would there be more children like Charlie...the Major's eyes.

The Major smirked at her face. Mouthing _"what?"_

She shook her head, thankful for the Duchess squel of happiness. "Oh! I almost had forgotten. They are stealing Ashley as well, maybe he can give us a song. Sing us one of those pieces that I have been hearing about. Won't you tell your talented brother to hold a recital for us?"

"You know I can't get Ash to do anything he doesn't want to." Claudia confessed to the group. "He once asked me to join him, and you already know I'm no good at singing."

"Unless you want our ears to bleed." Cattleya mumbled under her breath.

Claudia turned around at the sound of her voice, and then tried to give his had to her, a peace offering, only to have Cattleya swat it away. The look on Claudia's face made Violet laugh brightly as they continued walking down a corridor to the dining room they had used for breakfast the previous day, and for the first time that night Violet's happy eyes caught the Major's that look fascinated with her joy.

"It's settled, we will have a duet!" Duchess Melanie declared to their group. "Just wait till Old Maude hears about this."

The Major leaned down to Violet's ear as they turned her corner, whispering. "Just wait till you hear Old Maude starts singing. She's worse than Claudia."

Violet rewarded the Major with another another chuckle.

After dinner was finished, the Duchess and Dowager insisted they return to their assigned room, Violet returning to room the Major had given her in the Summer Palace, away from the male company, especially with the coming of the Duke and the King of Vivace, the Duchess' Uncle by marriage.

She invited Cattleya and Luculia to stay with her, at least until the Duchess and Dowager were gone or sound asleep for them to make their escapes.

Violet smiled as she caught Luculia repeatedly glancing at a winking Lukas. They were so in love she was surprised they hadn't snuck off already. Meanwhile, Claudia was still trying to hold a fuming Cattleya's hand. The Major shared the same smile with her, he knew her curiosity, especially when it came to personal relationships. The closeness that she dared to show him she now understood. On the other hand, Violet hoped he wasn't expecting her presence so soon, not after Cattleya trapped her hand in a vice-like grip, and said they were going to stay up all night talking.

"Don't worry, I'll sleep quite comfortably with you Violet. You won't even know I am there." Cattleya professed loud enough for her lover to hear.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Claudia grumbled loud enough for only Cattleya and Violet beside her to hear.

"I'm sure you'll figure something out. You can always ask your cousin the Duchess for help." Cattleya remarked cruelly. "Come on Violet, we should let the boys rest up, we have _big_ plans for you tomorrow."

"Goodnight Major." Violet managed to say before leaving.

The Major nodded a sublet goodbye to her just as Cattleya took control of her mechanical hand, absconding with her down the long corridor to her room, and a giggling Luculia was kissed goodnight and goodbye by her fiancee. She soon followed after them.

At the present moment, both Dolls; Violet and Luculia, were freshly bathed, hair platted into braids, and sitting out on chairs of Violet's balcony. They lay on the chairs in relaxed rapture of the stars they gazed on, and the stars that gazed back. Cattleya was bathing in the Violet's restroom insisting on going last so that they could relax as they waited for her to finish up.

Below them, the Major, Claudia, and Luculia's Lukas are hanging out by the doors of the Palace. Just where they can seen by the girls above. Lukas smoking a cigarette. Beside him, Claudia laying sprawled out on the steps, and the Major sitting on the lowest step, with his heels spread out on the hooves trampled and weathered stone of the entrance. They are chatting, but they are too far to hear out clearly.

Perhaps it was best.

The things she told Luculia were not things that she was sure the Major was ready to hear.

"I love him so much Luculia." That wasn't even the worst part. "It kills me to say this, but it hurts to not hear him say it back. I want him to feel my love." Especially since he had only just opened up to the things that were done to him. It killed her not to know the details, for him to only give hints, and for that to only make her grow more worried for what he kept inside.

Violet moaned to her listening friend. "I know it's selfish for me to think these things, I already have so much." She had once thought that having him alive was enough, but now. "But a part of me wants him to say it back. I want to know what it is he feels like when he sees me. I want to know where we both stand. That he doesn't feel like he owes me his attention and time, and that he spends his hours with me because he likes me the way I am now. Not the girl soldier he protected, but the person I am now. That I can help him so much more now. I can help him find the pieces he lost."

"I think you have been spending way too much time the Duchess." Luculia said matter-of-factually. "I also think that you are blowing this out of proportion."

"Maybe I am." Violet thought aloud. "How do you make it look so easy Luculia? Why does your love with Lukas seem so effortless?" She felt her mouth dry from how much she had spoke today. Violet was sure she had talked enough for a lifetime, and still it wasn't enough. A faucet had been opened, and she couldn't stop it coming out now. "Was it like this with Lukas? Did you ever feel unsure?"

"Can I tell you something? I _still_ feel unsure sometimes." Luculia said right back. "But it grows less and less over time and trust sets in, you'll see. Relationships aren't easy, you have to work for them."

"I am."

"You have to have honesty too Violet." Luculia imparted some more of her advice, not afraid in telling her what was missing. "If you feel like telling him how you feel will scare him off, then it's better you tell him. Perhaps, it's best he hears it and understands the position your in your new relationship. Tell him what you are going through. Leave the ball in his court. See if he truly is worth fighting for."

They stopped talking for a moment when they heard the men below laughing at something funny. She was sure it wasn't the Major, but she couldn't pick it out of the rest, because she had yet to hear it. Violet frowned at that.

"Can't you just enjoy this. You are with him again." Luculia exclaimed, her attitude far more positive than Violet seemed to be after the life-changing conversations she had with the Major. "See the bright side, take it slow, you are such a perfectionist." She called her out. "This is not a race, you have time to let him make decisions, for you to make decisions, have patience with this, you'll see, things will come. Right now, just look at the stars, they are beautiful tonight."

"I see." Violet did think they were beautiful. She was sure Leon would think the same.

"Remember when we were sent to the Shaher Astronomical Headquarters."

"Yes." Violet sighed out trying to clear her mind.

"Did you know Iberis got married? Can you guess who?"

That got her attention. "You mean Iberis Konoue?"

"It's Iberis Zoenig now." That meant only one thing.

"She married him?"

"Yes, she did." Luculia said proudly. "It was a scandal. She forsakes her family, and Kyle ran away from the Astronomy, and they tied the knot last winter, living near the sea in the Republic of Sorbus. I'm inviting her to be one of bridesmaids for the wedding. Can you believe it? I think she is even expecting. Imagine it now, married and with a baby." She patted her own flat belly. "That's where I want to be in a year, married and with a baby on the way."

"Yes." Violet was more interested in. "Did you attend their wedding?"

"No. Why do you ask?"

"Mr. Zoenig was a friend to Leon." The memory of him now, those serious blue eyes that carried so much with them, staring up at the bright purple and star-filled night-sky. Fascinated with a passing of a comet, a comet that only came once in a lifetime. He truly had been a once in a lifetime type of person. "I would like to know how he is doing" Violet contemplated over that. "He would have brought up the story of the Merlin King and his human bride today. Of how she had forsaken her mortality to become a fish and enter his kingdom."

"You think of Leon when you look at the stars."

"I think of Leon just like I think of all the people that I have wrote letters with or for." Violet sighed deeply, knowing where this was going, and not sure if she wanted Luculia to get such notions in her head. "And when I look at the stars they remind me of him."

"Okay, I'll bite." She prompted Violet. "Tell me the story. What happened to the human girl that became a fish?"

"She died and turned to sea foam."

"Oh wow."

Violet kept going despite the horrified look on Luculia's face. "She was unable to get the Merlin King to recognize her and love her in her fish form after an evil witch struck a bargain with her so she could be with him. She still tried though, to be with him always, but she had to get him to recognize her. On the third day he still went to the beach to meet with the human, and did not believe that she would be so foolish to make a deal with the Sea-Witch she had warned her about."

"So on the third day she swam to their beach, to watch him waiting for her, and she cried so much that when the curse finally enacted, it turned her to Sea Foam, and it is said the ocean became salty with her tears."

"Once he returned to the water, he knew what had been done, and he took the same curse so that he too would become Sea Foam like her. That is why the oceans and seas are so romantic to lovers, because it is made up by two lovers that were destined to be separated in life but reunited in death."

"Oh my goodness." Luculia sighed to the sky. "That is a horrible story, who makes things up like that!"

"I don't think it's so bad." Violet disagreed. "She tried to be with the person she loved most, despite what could happen to her, and I think that is what makes their story so great."

"Oh, I see." Luculia stood up in her chair and pushed on Violet's shoulder. "You have a crush on Leon!?"

"What?" That was not what she said at all.

"You had a crush on Leon. I see it now." She pointed out. "You were always standing up for him, and you both even saw the comet together all alone and secretive. I knew you had a crush after that."

 _"_ _Crush?"_ She had heard Iris say it once. She said it was the way she had once felt for her old childhood friend and crush, Emonn Snow. "I don't have a crush on Leon." It felt more stronger than a simple childish fantasy. "We had a deep connection, we bonded over our past, over feeling lonely." He had given her a name for the feeling. Helped her understand that part of herself. "I feel as if he truly saw my spirit, and he accepted me for it. He wanted to see me again one day, on one of his travels, and I like to think he stills feels the same way."

"It's called a crush." Luculia repeated, exasperated. "You don't have to make it so complicated Violet."

"Who has a crush?" Cattleya was done with her bath, and her violet eyes were teeming with knowledge and curiosity. "If it's the Major I know exactly how to win him over Violet. Oh, he won't know what hit him!"

Violet sighed in frustration and anxiety, slumping back in her chair, and Luculia could not stop laughing and explain to Cattleya all the emotions that were warring inside Violet and not giving her a moment's peace.

* * *

 **A/N: SHOUT OUT TO ALL MY VIEWERS, FOLLOWERS, and lovely FAVs! You are the the greatest motivation I have! I love the big fandom we are growing on her for Violet Evergarden fandom. We are truly growing, and it brings a smile to my face whenever I see a story uploaded. I hope this story was to your expectations. Please tell me what you would like to see for the coming chapter! Love your reviews, thoughts, any advice you have for me :)**

 **SPECIAL SHOUT OUT TO;** **Guest #1, MyHalfLight, GloriousEuphoria3, NerdFishy, BreakTheBastille, TheCatepultIncident, Guest #2, ThePowerOfWords383, Hatter1999, yubima-chan, KennaScripts, and Guest #3.**

 **Guest #1:** I am so glad that you commented, and that you found my story! I will try to keep going love to hear what you have in mind for future chapters. It warms my heart that you feel like this is complete. I am still trying to update as I go and I hope that you continue to enjoy the story as it continues to evolve! Sending all my love to you in Germany, have a wonderful day!

 **MyHalfLight:** I continued! I hope you liked chapter 10. Tell me what you think.

 **GloriousEuphoria3:** aww shucks thank you so much :)

 **NerdyFishy:** I am so glad that you liked it, tell me if you like this newest chapter.

 **BreakTheBastille:** thank you for your review.

 **TheCatepultIncident:** thanks, love your 70's comment, I met a guy that said this to me, and I can't stop imagining him telling me this, nevertheless, thank you! Hope you liked this newest chapter.

 **Guest #2:** I am so glad you love this story, hope you liked this newest chap!

 **ThePowerOfWords383:** Here it is! Please don't die on me, hope to get the next one sooner rather than later ;)

 **Hatter1999:** I am so happy you find my story wonderful. I am looking forward to seeing how you like this newest chapter, if you have any suggestions of what you want, love to hear it :)

 **yubima-chan:** Thank you for being there since the beginning, again you are the farthest thing from annoying, I always look forward to seeing what you have to say, if you want to see any scenes with characters, let me know and I will see how I can make that happen ;) Sending my love! Have a wonderful day.

 **KennaScripts:** I hope I gave you the right amount of moderation that you seek in each of my chapters' I feel like this chapter was necessary before we got into more Major and Violet. These conversations were heavy I know, I feel it too, but I knew it was going to be there. These are characters with their PTSD, and nightmares of the things they lost and broke during the War. Love your analysis of my work, God it always makes my day, thank you thank you for always being the first reviewer to this story! It means the world of me, tell me what you want for the next chapter, have a wonderful night, and tell me if you were expecting more of a fast-paced burn in this chapter. It felt a bit slow to me, tell me how you feel ;)

 _ **Guest #3:**_ I am so glad you liked my first chapter, thank you for your review, if you want to translate this into Russian then please do! Let me know if you need my help, and love if you could send me a link to the story so I could see it. I would have to brush up on my Russian (it's so bad), but would love to see it anyways! :)

 _ **AND THAT'S ALL THE GRATITUDE I HAVE FOR YOU GUYS!**_

 _ **LOVE YOU ALL,**_

 _ **BE SAFE MY LOVES AND HAVE A WONDERFUL NIGHT!**_

 _ **Odeveca**_


	11. Of Lessons and Liars

_**Updated: 08/27/2019* Rated M.**_

* * *

 _ **"Of Lessons and Liars."**_

* * *

Violet felt hyperaware.

Last night, she went to bed with dreams of green going through her head.

She blamed this on Cattleya and Luculia. She had to. It was only after their cruel yet lovable goading, that they had forced her into explaining the whole story. It started from the moment she had left the CH Postal Company, completely unaware of the adventure that awaited her, then coming to the cottage by the sea, the shoot-out with Sophie, seeing Dietfried, and at last learning that the Major was alive.

They held her for a moment when she got teary-eyed.

Then she continued the story of the Duchess sending her to the Major's little hut, sitting on his cot, conversations at the Big House with the Bougainvillea brothers, the key the Major gave her for this room, the hug and words they shared, and to continue on until they got to the conversations on the beach before Cattleya and Claudia had found them.

"You love him, you got it so bad!" Cattleya squealed when it became too much.

"Oh yes she does." Luculia winked conspiratorially. "Cattleya, didn't you say the Major won't know what hit him?"

"Well," she threw her envious raven hair over her shoulder. "After that story, I am sure Violet did that a few times already."

They giggled like co-conspirators.

Violet sighed deeply.

She blamed them for getting her to rant about the Major's remaining eye, more precious to her than the gem she wore around her neck, and the things he had told her at the Sea. They kept talking about their own lovers, and as they chitchatted about their own love stories, Violet kept fantasizing of what the Major would think if he saw her now. Here, blushing on her bed. Dressed in her sheer underthings, soft pale gown, racing heart, and relentlessly blushing cheeks. It was completely embarrassing, but she couldn't help it.

Her friends giggled when she got so frustrated, she bit into her metallic hand. The metal twang settling her troubled belly.

"Stop it." Violet whined.

Her friends giggled more, and so she dreamed of green that night.

Emerald. Candy apple. Electric. Army. Fern. Sea. Shamrock. Jade. Pigment. Pine. Viridian. She had gone through half of them by the next morning when the sun rays woke her.

Red sky rising, the purples, dark blues, and umber fading fast from the horizon. She was not surprised when bright gold fingers returned, creeping up from the glass windows and doors of the balcony, and bleating a loud good morning to everyone and everything.

Instead of rolling back into her Master bed, pulling the white plush covers over her head, and going back to sleep (as Cattleya had done immediately beside her), Violet woke that morning in the writing mood.

She needed to write. She needed to feel her fingers dancing on the typewriter. Feeling more like herself, she slipped on a robe that was in wardrobe, some soft feathered slippers that had been on the floor of the wardrobe and found Luculia had already left them. Her old classmate had written a short-scripted letter reminding Violet to meet her for Lunch. Apparently, they had an agenda and lessons plans to go over, and she smirked at working beside Luculia, just as they had done when they were students.

Violet smirked a second time when Cattleya did not wake to her typing.

 _Perhaps type a bit quieter next time_ , she remembered Cattleya had once told her.

Now Violet was going at a lighting pace, but quietly.

She finally finished Sophie's letter, grinning as she read it over, and sealed it with the red stamp of the CH Postal Company. She would give it to Sophie, and the Duchess' meddling bodyguard/maid could be the one to give it to the Major.

Violet then went on to her next letter, one that was addressing Claudia from her. As the President, Claudia Hodgins had every right to have an in-depth report- _explanation_ of what had occurred. She sighed a heavy breath, biting her hand out of habit, and concluding Claudia's letter with her acceptance working at the Seagrave Orphanage.

She tapped her chin for a moment, smiling widely, and then got to finishing Claudia's letter.

 _I humbly accept the temporary position to write for the Seagrave Orphanage, and will run classes beside the Instructor Luculia Marlborough. I assume responsibility of the role that will be decided by the responsible parties and will strive to represent the CH Postal Company in all the ways that fit my scope of function as an Auto Memories Doll._

 _Sincerely,_

 _Violet Evergarden_

Her mind immediately went back to last night.

The Major had been so happy.

She remembered him chuckling in her ear, stealing glances as they took the Duchess' tour, and whispering so she would have to bend her head closer to his.

He had a very nice smile, she never really saw it till now, there were not many things to smile about in War. But it wasn't just that he had a nice smile, it was more than that. There was a fire behind him that Violet had sensed since the beach, and it… captivated her, and there was nothing close to how he looked at her. Even though he had not finished his story, something about him was calling to her. It was like she was drawn to him through his voice, eyes, mouth, blood in his veins, and that was all types of weird. Violet was even scaring herself. She bit her palm more, imagining burning green eyes and soft stubble and skin of his shaved jaw.

"Pull yourself together Violet." She stopped herself, rubbing the crust from her eyes, and trying to break the Major's spell on her.

It was a scream that brought her out of her fantasy.

"Cattleya!" Violet was on the bed before Cattleya got a second scream. "I am here. I'm right here."

She was shaking.

"Was it a nightmare?"

Her shaking friend didn't even nod. She just sat there, holding her knees to her chest, violet eyes wide, and fixated on the wall. Cattleya had never looked so lost, as if she had opened her eyes and the nightmare was still here, the fear only getting worse.

"You are safe Cattleya. You are safe."

That made her respond. "You're wrong."

"What's wrong, you can talk to me?"

"I can't."

"I will help you." Violet tells her, even when she is not sure if she could, but whatever could help her get out of whatever this was, she willing to do it, and still her friend is not satisfied. She had to get Cattleya talking. Keeping it inside only made it worse, Violet knew only too well. "What did you dream about?"

"It was a nightmare," Cattleya finally refocused her stare, right back at her friend, and Violet felt a slither of her fear. Her friend whispered. "You're in danger Violet." She could see the white in Cattleya's eyes.

"What do you mean in danger?" Violet urged her to continue. "You have to tell me. For me to understand what is happening you need to tell me."

Cattleya only shook her head, and closed her eyes, refusing to open them.

All Violet could do was hold her.

* * *

 **O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0O**

* * *

"When did she get like this?"

Claudia leaned back on the wooden bench, sighing loudly underneath the gazebo and relentless summer noon-sun, "it happened two nights ago."

"This isn't the first time?"

"No. It's not." His tone gave more Violet more than she was ready for. This was not the first nightmare that Cattleya had, and something told Violet that this might not be the last one either.

"I see." At least it felt safe now, the light of day pushed back all the shadows.

The garden was overflowing in blooming roses, pollen floating on the breeze, creating a sanctuary of privacy for both him and Violet to talk about Cattleya's nightmare.

"Violet." Claudia brought her back to the conversation. There was something troubling in his eyes, they seemed to have more energy than before. "This is reason why we came to see you. She had to make sure you were safe."

"I am safe." If what he really meant was, "and they caught the assassin at the cottage by the sea." Violet had heard Sophie tell the Major and Captain Dietfried about her report of the events.

The Duchess' guard had made secure the Orphanage and Summer Palace, checked the grounds, and that was proof enough of their safety. Even Sophie had said they found no other suspects. No other leads. Sophie, whom had once been a spymaster had guaranteed it, "we are all safe now." And she reminded Claudia of this.

"I know what Gilbert and Sophie said." He revealed to Violet. "I told her, but you already know Cattleya," for a second there was a smirk on his face, and then it was replaced by something else. "There is no reasoning with her when she gets the notion something is wrong. And I had to come and visit my Aunt Maud, she had been badgering for a visit for months, checking in on you seemed like the best option."

"Still, she said I was in danger." Violet remembered Cattleya refusing to let go of her arm. The Major encouraging her to eat, while Violet quickly kidnapped Claudia, getting the whole story since her friend flinched whenever she asked details about what had scared. "Am I in danger Claudia?"

Claudia leaned back more, his man bun rubbing against the gazebo's railing. "At first I believed her. Cattleya is not like this." Violet nodded, knowing it as true. "So, I had to come, and coming here only proved to me," he shook his head. "Proved to me that this must be something from her past."

"Her past?"

Claudia gave her a look. "Cattleya is extremely private person Violet." She already knew that. She knew that Claudia knew things about his lover that others would die to gossip about. She appreciated his loyalty and his discretion when it came to one of her dearest friends.

"You don't have to tell me about Cattleya's past." Violet quickly stopped him, not wanting him to regret saying anything. "She would have told me if it was important."

"You're right." Claudia agreed, hitting his head back on the rail, grumbling to finally say. "But I can tell you this, she went through a lot to get where she is, and sometimes those things stick with you."

"The burning." He had once told her, of the fire that dwelled in each of them now. "I remember you telling me that once. But now." It was different. "I believe you." Violet joined him, sitting on the bench next to him, sighing too. "It feels like a living thing always with you. It's presence, it's." How could she describe it, the fire that did not feel like fire? "It's cold and terrifying."

Now it was Claudia that was watching Violet, as if he was trying to figure something out. "Do you feel safe here Violet? You don't have to stay here, just because the Major is here."

"That isn't it."

"I know you made a few friends too." Yesterday, Claudia eyes had widened when he saw Luculia was living here and especially the maid Sophie that winked and hugged Violet as if she was her sister too. "That doesn't mean you can't come back with Cattleya and I today. Just say the word and I will take you back."

"Go back with you?" Violet felt nervous for a moment, it would be easy, to go back to the Company. Go back to writing, take another call to write a letter where there weren't assassinations and ghosts returning from death. She could have space to feel how she was truly feeling about the Major, and yet, she would be running. She knew one thing. She wasn't a coward. "I don't feel afraid staying here." Violet finally said, "I feel afraid for Cattleya."

"I know, I feel the same."

Someone interrupted. "What are you guys talking about?"

They were no longer alone at the gazebo.

"Sophie," Violet perked up, it was her who had snuck up the pathway of the gardens. There it was again, that _look on her Sophie's face_ , as if she knew something they had yet to find out.

Violet had to ask. "You weren't listening in on us?" She saw something spark in the older woman's eyes. "You were." It was no longer a question.

"I didn't have to," Sophie remarked boldly. "I could hear you talking about nightmares and danger from my second story rooms." She had forgone the maid's outfit, wearing a cloak of pure black, and her steel eyes sagging with dark bags underneath them. She had been out last night.

"Of course, she was listening in Violet." Claudia grumbled. "Gil told me I would have to be careful around Miss Kenway." He said her name just as Dietfried's guards had once called her. "I just didn't know she was a _spy_ as well as a convict."

"You would be surprised how similar those two are." Sophie surprised them both by leaning in towards them, and whispering so quietly they both had to lean in. "I would keep your voices down the next time, don't want the Dowager's spies or Dietfried's generals to hear what you guys are planning to do."

"The Dowager has spies?" Violet muttered.

"The generals have more." Sophie chuckled as she leaned on the gazebo's railing where Violet had once leaned on. "They would do anything for me to follow Violet back to the Company, or for Gil to follow as well, enemies play better on their grounds. You don't have to be a genius to know that."

"So, these enemies." Claudia brow furrowed, upset. "Mind telling us who they are?"

"If I knew their names, you would too." Sophie replied smartly. "And there are always enemies Claudia Hodgins, don't have to look so alarmed." She chuckled when Claudia crossed his arms. "But they aren't going to trouble you here or put a finger on your Company. It would give up their location, no we are safe from my reports. If Violet weathers the storm here for a bit with the Dowager and Duchess, you all will have nothing to fear," she repeated, as if she was tired of doing so. "And for the Leidenschaftlich generals, they're all old and boring. They won't be bothering you anytime soon."

Claudia grumbled. "How can you be so sure?"

Sophie's answer was a smile and turn of her heel towards the Summer Palace.

Claudia made a face at Sophie Kenway's retreat, even when she kept walking the way she had come in, a happy jump in her step as she left the gardens, as if they had been talking about Luculia's wedding rather than sharing secrets on these _unknown enemies_.

"Is she always like that?"

"Yes." Violet answered Claudia. "I'm afraid she is always like that."

"-great."

* * *

 **O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0O**

* * *

"I want you all to give a big welcome to Miss Violet Evergarden. She has come to us from the City of Leiden, the CH Postal Company, and works there as an Auto Memories Doll," Luculia introduced her to the class.

"It will be my pleasure to teach beside Miss Marlborough." Violet stood from her place beside Luculia's impressive mahogany desk. "And to help in any way that I can." Violet bowed before the class of fifty; the mass sum of the children here at the Seagrave Orphanage, and she just learned took up residence on the west wings of the Summer Palace. "I know that you may have many questions as to my capabilities and story as an Auto Memories Doll, and I will endeavor to answer them to the best of my abilities."

She got a few claps from the younger students, but those in their adolescence just stared up at her with glassy eyes. As if they had seen this all before.

"Well class." Luculia verbally urged them. "Now is the time that you can ask Miss Evergarden any questions before we go over the changes in your scheduling and lectures with the other professors."

That got their attention. At least six hands raised at the same time.

"Yes Benji," Luculia picked first.

"Is it true that Charlie saved you? That is what he has been telling everyone. Is he lying or not?"

"Benji." Luculia was swifter than Violet. "We talked about this."

"I know but you said we can ask her questions," answered the boy that looked near Charlie's age, having already been prepared for this response. "I know Charlie is lying he can't fight to save his life." There were a few chuckles.

"Class." Luculia gave a look that even had Violet regretting interrupting. "Like I said before, Charlie already explained to the class that whatever happens outside of class is private, and what do we say about private things."

"We respect each other's privacy." All of them said at once, and it made Violet smile when even the older ones chimed in.

Another hand was raised.

"Yes Greta, what is your question?" Luculia picked, this student a fair bit older.

"If I wanted to become Auto Memories Dolls, how could I go about that? What advanced level of schooling would we have to receive to get the license or certification?"

Violet was relieved that she knew this one. "Well, each Auto Memories Doll's journey is a different one, but if you are interested in getting certified as an Auto Memories Doll I can refer you to several different Auto Memories Doll training schools. The one Miss Marlborough and I attended is right here in Leiden, lead by Instructor Rhodanthe, I know that after the War there has been an increased need for girls that want to become Dolls."

"Thank you, Miss Evergarden." Greta answered, already scribbling down in her notebook.

"Okay next, we have Henry."

"Yes." This boy looked to be the oldest of the bunch. "When it comes to what we will be studying, do you require exercises such as repeating sentences, and-"

Violet found that they were mostly interested in how her place would change the structure of their lessons with Luculia, and the other two professors. She met them at the end of the class, and they had much to say about the changes in the schedules. These changes thankfully were made by Luculia and approved by the Dowager and Duchess as the two primary patrons and final voices when it came to the Orphanage. Her friend had been gracious to give her a training period so she would feel comfortable and supported with the requirements of her new position.

During their discussions, all three of the instructors, including Violet as the newest, took lunch in the staff room that had once been a tea parlor on the West side of the Summer Palace.

The other two professors were middle-aged and married to one another.

Mr. Roswell; the husband, was short, balding with plumb fingers, and paired with rosy cheeks that would rival a tomato. He was content to keep smiling in his button up shirt and nodding to the conversation going between his wife and Luculia about the opera shows in town. He taught history and the sciences, and that was all he could get out before his wife had demanded to know what Violet thought of the arts and music.

Mrs. Roswell put Sophie's rebellious tongue to shame. "Have you had the time to book a ticket to see the Chanticlare Singers, a whole male ensemble, they sing like angels, it is incredible the pieces they have created this year alone. I say, the new face of the arts and beauty. I hear that the Princess of Drossel even came to listen to them. Of course, you are already familiar with her, would you say that the Princess is an admirer of the Arts? I find that all royals all have a singular affinity to the Arts-"

Violet has yet to get a time to enter the conversation, the female professor of the arts and music had enough to say for all of them. Perhaps she could get Sophie to have a talk-off with Mrs. Roswell? How did the students even get a word in when she refused to stop speaking? Her mouth was like the constant hum of the car motor, always humming, until someone remembered to shut it off, and Violet was not sure if Luculia expected her to be the one to do that.

Luculia was only smiling, reading over the newspaper, as if she had just unburdened herself with Violet being here to take the brunt of conversations that went nowhere.

Violet was starting to regret her decision, when Mrs. Roswell was drowned out by a child's voice. "Miss Violet."

She turned and smiled brightly, "Charlie, you found me."

"Sorry I missed your class." He didn't look upset, he had that natural giddiness, jumping on his tippy toes to get closer to her, and that she liked. "Grandma Maude wanted me to say hello to father, Lucy, and Francis." She had wondered where he had been, and her smile grew as he explained. "Lucy wouldn't let me leave. She had wanted me to play games with Francis since now he can say words and even remembers people's faces."

"Lucy? Francis?"

"My little sister and brother," he sighed as if they were anchors around his neck rather than his siblings. "But I was supposed to give this earlier to you," he leaned in close to her ear so only she could hear and pressed a note into her gloved hand. "Uncle Gil said he wanted us to follow the map. He has a surprise for you."

At the mention of the Major she saved. "That's excellent news Charlie."

The questions about his little siblings would have to wait. Even Luculia's own questioning look would have to wait. Violet squeezed her hand under the table. _Later._

Violet stood. "Excuse me Mr. and Mrs. Roswell, Luculia, I believe I am needed elsewhere."

"Yes, the Dowager is a very busy woman, no use wasting her time," Mrs. Roswell concluded must be the only reason for Violet leaving before they had finished their class preparations. "You be sure to tell us of any changes, we always have clear communication when it comes to the Dowager's expectations."

"Of course, enjoy your tea." Anyone that knew Miss Evergarden, knew her bright smile only meant one thing, and Luculia's wink urged her to walk faster with an explaining Charlie in tow.

Only one thing ran through her mind.

The Major had a surprise for her.

* * *

 **O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0O**

* * *

Charlie took her back to the field of flowers she had walked through the day before.

She was again struck how beautiful it was. Like a painting, but more. There was something so fragile and precious when it came to nature, something that drew her in, instinctive, like taking a breath. There had been so little time for enjoying it after the War, and she had found no use of it when she had grieved the Major. Now, she could take it in, and not have her mind elsewhere.

"Come on Violet, you have to go faster." Charlie led her on, but they went South rather than North, to where she had first seen the Major.

The headed right to the Blacksmith Hut where the Major lived, and the Forge itself that lay behind it closer to the coast.

This time there was twin chimneys running, and she had a few moments to finally appraise the Forge itself.

It was more like a cavernous barn, made up of timber and plaster, far larger than the Major's own living space. It might have seemed odd, but Violet could understand. Here was most likely where he spent most of his time. This was where the Major went to work and to perhaps get away from it all.

His haven away from the questions and the responsibility of remembering. Violet could respect that.

When the Doll walked through the open door, she was pulled in by the heat and warmth from the furnace of dancing flames. It was larger than any fireplace she had ever seen, raised to be waist high, and burning madly. She was glad it was contained within the actual forge that encased it, she feared the Major's Forge House would have caught fire if it didn't.

The furnace, she could imagine did its job well, welding and smelting the iron, ore, and the evidence of black ash that seemed to cling to the Major's welding blacksmith apron the last time she had laid eyes on it. Next to the furnace was several containers of liquid. Violet had heard once that blacksmith needed to cool the metal down to make proper steel, but perhaps those were questions best kept for the Major to answer.

Speaking of the Major.

"You came." He rounded the corner, out of breath, his hair up, and his eye focusing on what was in his hands, his dark leathered eye-patch seemed to glow by the fire. He was holding a blade that he then dunked into the container of liquid, turning his face away from the hissing and smoke that rose from it, and waiting for a moment until he noticed her watching.

"I've been trying to finish as fast as I can, but I still need to finish this one, and then another." He pulled the finished blade out and set it on a table where other blades already made lay in neat line.

"Nothing like getting the job done _eh_ Violet." The green of his eye pulled her in once more. He was wearing a damp white shirt, it clung to his skin as he wiped the sweat from his brow, and with the blacksmith apron he completed the look of a capable Blacksmith.

She was relieved to see that his longer hair was pulled out of his face and combed back in a small ponytail much like Claudia's, she feared it catching fire after spotting the furnace, and at least he had thought of it too. Unfortunately, his hair was not nearly as long as it could be, because some raven blue pieces were beginning to fall into his face. It was a new look for him. Violet could not help but stare, "did I get something on my face?"

"No." Violet answered quickly, and then his smile mirrored her own. "You're fine." _More than fine._ She reminded him, waving the small piece of paper Charlie had given her before he had disappeared. He was no longer in the Hut, nor at the door, and she knew he had run back. The little rascal. "Charlie jut got me, he said you had a surprise to show me?"

"Let me finish up here." He signaled to the welding and what he had moments ago been doing, "and then we'll go?"

"Okay," Violet awkwardly bowed and grew flustered at his growing smile.

Stepping outside she was instantly relieved by the open air. She felt better outside, she breathed in gulps of the soothing sea air, but even outside she could still hear the Major hammering away at whatever it was he was now doing, and all the while she was trying to forget how much muscle and focus there was in his movements when he was working.

"He knows what he's doing." Violet mumbled to herself, walking closer to the sea cliff's edge, her dress blowing, and smartly keeping her back to the Forge before she pretended to be a gulping fish again. _What had happened to me?_ She had clamed up like a shell, watching him, and painfully remembering how at ill at ease he had been at War. The comparison from then and now was shocking. In her memory he was always seemed to have the weight of something on his shoulders, in his eye, within the words he shared with her, and now… _he moved effortlessly._

"Did Luculia introduce you to the kids?"

Violet turned just in time to see the Major dunk his hands in the water barrel outside the Forge, wetting his arms and chest, his white shirt clinging ridiculously now that she could see every muscle, even the ones on his stomach, an then he had a rag and he was rubbing his hair roughly, and then staring at her knowingly, as he rubbed his hair until it was a cute wet mop around hiding his ears and the top of his neck. "Was it that bad?"

Violet stopped staring at him, it helped some, the sea so beautiful to not look at. "No, it was great, I met the students, and the other professors, and Luculia was very kind to give me a training period before I am on my own."

"You deserve it."

She disagreed. "I was very lucky to have got it."

He frowned, throwing the rag next to the barrel, and walking up to her. "You should have expected the training, be sure to tell me or anyone if you feel like your being overwhelmed. I don't want you keeping it to yourself if you feel like you are given too much."

"I will speak about that to my superiors, and when it is appropriate." Violet said right back, not liking what he implied. "I am more than capable of doing what is asked of me." Perhaps even more so, but she would not go that far, it was after all her first day.

"That's not what I meant."

"Then speak plainly."

"I wanted that for myself," he continued quietly, relaxing his position beside her. "I thought myself unworthy of telling others how much their questions hurt me, how it was too much for me to deal with. How I could not be the person they expected me to be. When I first came, I wanted everyone's happiness rather than my own." Suddenly it was like yesterday and they were transported back to yesterday sitting on that driftwood. "I returned to my home and I couldn't be the person that they loved."

She listened patiently.

"The person that returned was one that was fine with killing to survive, was even good at it, knew only about living in the moment, for the next meal, the next fight, and for the longest time it was the only thing I thought I was capable of doing. My time in the enemies' camps only made it worse."

He seemed to go into a trance, shutting his eye and refusing to open it.

Violet moved without thinking. Miraculously, her hand was not trembling as she held his shoulder and shook it. "Look at me, Major," she ordered, infusing her voice with strength and calm she most certainly was not feeling. The electric charge of skin-to-skin contact finally forced his eyes to open. They focused on hers wild and bewildered.

"You are a good person," she told him, careful to avoid the talk of killing, even when she did not know all the details. "You know what you did was wrong. We can't undo the things we have done. We can only stand together and fight when the memories come."

"Fight." He gazed over the cliff her hand dropping. He stared off at the distant waves that crashed on the sand far below them. It was like he was talking to the surf now, as if he had forgotten that Violet stood beside him.

"When they took me, they stripped me of all my clothes, shaved every piece of hair from my body, and made me run around the barracks for hours in the cold." _This was it._ This was the story he did not get to tell yesterday. Now he had Violet's full attention. "I ran faster when their dogs began chasing us, but their laughing was everywhere, they were wrapped in fur and scarves, and we were freezing. What made it worse was there were other men beside me, men that knew me, called for me to help them, and I left them when they fell of exhaustion, and did not return when the dogs shredded them to pieces."

"Oh Major." As Violet tensed to properly herself towards him, his breath caught, turning his face towards her, his eye clenched shut and tears shimmering on his impossibly long lashes, and even some leaked from the eye-patch, which he turned to wipe where she could not see.

"I have to finish." He choked out, even the step away from her meant so much, "now that I started."

She let him.

"I once had to fight a man for bowel of soup. He fell backwards and his head cracked on the cement pavement a floor down from us. I didn't have to fight him, but I did. Later I found out it wasn't even for him, but for his dying father. I killed two men there."

The story seemed to really get to him, and Violet wished that at least someone had been there to provide him comfort, she did not care whom, but no one deserved to suffer alone.

"There were different duties at the camps, and when I found a position that didn't mean I had to work in the fields or the mines I took it. Do you want to know what it was for?"

In that very second Violet couldn't breathe.

"It was collecting the dead from the barracks, the ones that didn't wake up. Then collecting the ones that fell as they worked from the winter cold or from the fumes of the mines, I carried their bodies and then laid them in the incinerator. They didn't even get the respect of having a burial. That was what we were worth to them, and that is what I chose to do rather than dying like an honorable Major."

"All I had in my mind was your face, and I refused to stop. I refused to die." There was a bitterness to his story now. "I took the first chance they gave me. I became their fighter." Violet didn't have to ask what that was. "I fought in an arena every night for them. Fighting until the other man was dead," he lifted his shirt and for the first time she saw his arms, they had scars, bite marks, raised puckered places were his skin must have been burned. She reached out to them.

Her fingers traced, and she feared of how far and deep the others he carried on the places she had yet to see.

"There are more Violet."

She raised his abused arm to her face and kissed where someone had burned him.

He looked shattered, lost, utterly alone. "That is why I could not tell them Violet." She caught his muffled question. "You understand me don't you Violet, why I can't speak about it? Not to anyone?"

In that very moment Violet's mind screamed in anguish. She was careful what showed on her face. She wanted to hurt those men the way they had hurt the Major, and at the same time comfort him for every memory he had bottled up inside him. "I understand."

At the root of it all, his past didn't change the way she felt about it, it only enhanced it. She needed him. He needed her. There was nothing else beyond that. "I'm not going anywhere."

"That's just it." He was talking again. "This new life has made me weak. I could not protect you from those men, the same way I can't protect anyone here. I can't fight off the people that want me dead, and this stalemate the Duchess has made won't last forever."

He reached out to take Violet's face in his hands. "Yet I can't go back to the killer I was. I won't. I have sworn off that life. For my mother, for Dietfried, and you I promised to never kill again." He dropped his hands, scratching into his hand as if the pain would make it easier to keep talking, to keep unburdening these thoughts that had been tormenting him. "The only way I can think of stopping them from following me and coming here is I take away what they want most. If I am dead, he will have no reason to come here. Charlie, Sophie, the Duchess, the children… _you_ … will all be safe."

He took a single tentative step back towards her. "Help me Violet," he pleaded. "Help me make everyone safe."

Violet understood exactly what he meant. Fury exploded over her body, burning, white-fury powerful to bring down a tank or level an entire city.

"You selfish, self-pitying vile creature," she seethed. "You come here. You practically let everyone know you are here. You make everyone care about you. You make Cattleya and Luculia _love_ you. You turn _my_ life upside down."

She was shouting at the top of her lungs now, her voice completely overpowering the pounding surf. The Major looked at her like a hooked fish on the bottom of a boat. Her rant reached critical maximum capacity and yet she could not stop even if she wanted to.

"And you think I am going to help everyone by _killing_ you?" Violet howled hoarsely, her throat burning from the sheer volume. "You know what I take back what I said about you being a good person. You are a coward. A lousy, selfish coward…"

Violet knew she had gone too far, crossed over some imaginary line. He had opened himself to her completely, and this was her response, "you can forget me keeping this to myself. You need a stern talk from Dietfried. Perhaps even your _mother_." The second that _word_ was out of her mouth, she saw the change.

Instantly, his glorious, tortured eye turned diamond hard. Rage boiled on his angel's face. He covered the short distance between them with a single step, latched his strong hands around her upper arms, and jerked her against his body. His mouth slammed down on hers.

She had never had anyone force a kiss on her before. Violet had never been kissed. Some would believe it would make her more furious than before. It did not.

This was the Major. Disoriented with desire, she buried her fingers in his hair, deliciously soft hair, just as she had fantasized doing for years. His lips were not gentle, and his hands gripped her tightly that it hurt. _That's going to leave a mark_ , she thought hazily.

Her body vibrated with lust, molding along the length of his muscled form so closely she didn't know where her skin left off and his began. His tongue swept inside her mouth, leading hers into a maddening duel that left her yearning for more. Violet moaned in his mouth. The sound made him wilder and more aggressive. One of his hands came up to tangle in the hair at her nape while the other moved south. When his hand flexed and pressed her forward, she felt the hard proof of his desire throbbing against her abdomen.

It was like a bucket of cold water. In that moment Violet knew what he needed and wanted were two separate things. Violet's body raged with her to not go through with it.

Her mind won. Pushing weakly against his shoulders, she turned her head away, moving her lips away from his reach. He ignored the hint. His hot mouth roved down her jawline. Violet had to move now, or she never would.

She tore herself from his arms and it was like plunging into an ice bath.

The Major was obviously not himself. He gasped rapidly, raggedly, his green eye dark and hooded with hunger. He reached for her as if he would draw her back into her arms. Violet took a step back.

"We need to stop," she said, her voice shaking badly. They had been deprived for so long, she knew this. But something in the back of her mind told her this was not the way it was supposed to be. Life was not so planned, something like this could never be planned… or expected.

"Why, why should we deny ourselves?" So, he had not been so blind to her change in character as she first thought.

"We need to stop." She repeated to him and herself.

Anger replaced the lust in his eyes. "Why?" He ground his teeth. "You want me, and I want you. If we are going to die why deny what we both desire?"

Guess this was him saying he wanted to stop playing the _"Violet is still a little girl"_ game. _Thank Goodness._ She was not sure they could go back to pretending they did not share a mutual attraction, not after this. But Violet was sure she did not want to move forward either. Something inside her told her the Major didn't either, and she would not let anyone force their relationship to progress unless it was them.

"We're not going to die," Violet put two more spaces between them. "But I will say this Major, I do love you, very much." She grinned when he did but put a hand up when he took a step forward. "But I hate that I must be the one says this, but neither of us is ready for this. This is definitely not the right place nor time."

"Forgive me, you're right. I should not have." The Major was returning to his senses. Breaking the physical contact had helped clear his head too.

She didn't like the look he gave her. Like that time Iris has broken down talking about her lost love. _Jilted._ That was the opposite of how she wanted him to feel.

"I am not saying no." Violet blushed deeply again. "Just not yet."

His grin grew to epic proportions.

"But _'not yet'_ is going to become _'not on your life'_ if you ever bring up the idea of suicide again? Do you understand me?"

When he nodded, Violet turned to leave the beach and lead him home.

He followed her silently back, and she smiled to herself.

She just might be the key to keeping him alive.

* * *

 **O0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0O**

* * *

That night, Dinner was more guests that Violet first expected.

The children; Charlie, Lucy, and Francis, had been sent to their own dinner, and the three strangers seemed eager to see the Dowager and Duchess, and their _wide_ assortment of guests.

"This is my husband, the Duke." The Duchess extended her hand to a bright red-bearded man sitting beside her at the dinning table. He had an impressive mustache, curled and burgundy, and it reminded Violet of one of those exotic red birds. He was not lazy in the least bit though, getting up quickly to get his wife a plate of food himself, refused to be served by the staff, and was talking quickly to the beaming Dowager, his mother, about some late news on the railroad business and a new type of locomotive him and his cousin Ashely had invented. Violet could see where Charlie got his energy from.

Still, it begged the question. Where did Charlie get his looks? She dared not look in the Majors direction.

Life seemed to be complicated enough for her.

"Ashley is brilliant. Who would have thought that adding another wheel would have such a great effect? His mind is a pool I will dive in my dear," he kissed the Duchess' hand, his beard tickled her hand but she showed no sign but downright admiration for him. Violet had never seen her shine so brightly. "I can assure you we will have more projects finished this year than any year before."

"I do hope so my love."

"Yes, yes Ashley this, Ashley that, we all love hearing about the darling Ashley," a dashing young man with the same dark auburn hair said. His hair was wavy, and it was parted in half, slicked to the sides as if someone had licked their hands and forced the hair to stay in place. He did not have a stitch of hair on his clean-shaven face, boyish did not fit him, but spoiled did. "Why give Ashley all the credit he isn't even here." To the displeasure of the Duchess who pouted at the news. "Why can't we talk about my Darla? She is the actress here after all."

His female companion beside him paused and dipped her head. The actress had shorter hair than even him and slicked to her skull in the same way that made Violet think was all the rage from where she was from. She winked at him returning to her conversation with Mrs. Roswell who would not leave her be, and neither would her Mr. Roswell. It was easy to see why the instructors were besotted with her. She looked like the way a bald eagle would look, majestic and frightening all at once, and she had met the Chanticleer Singers.

Luculia was absent.

She had taken a private dinner with her fiancée.

Violet could not blame her.

" _Leslie Hodgins_ ," the Duchess pleaded for the tenth time to the spoiled looking man, before he gave another reason why General Ludlow funded his textile export and sought him for his expertise in the business. "What did your mother tell you? Jealousy doesn't suit you cousin."

"As if I would be jealous of Ashley, huh, it was Claudia that was always jealous of him. Didn't Ashley steal his girl after all?"

"I was ten years old." Claudia piped up for the record.

"I'm sure that was the only reason why she said no to marriage." Leslie raised a chalice to Claudia.

There was a round of chuckles and a very steamy Cattleya that refused to meet the Duchess' triumphant smile. Those two were going to get into some hot water if they kept mauling each other with their eyes. Meanwhile, Claudia sunk deeper in his chair, it seemed he had gotten smaller as the meal continued.

"I am tired. I think I'll go to our room," Cattleya gave her a small smile before asking to be excused from the meal.

Violet was sad to see her go, but then Claudia said that he was tired too and then he too left. He was probably trailing after her, and she guessed it was for the best. Cattleya had said she always admired Claudia for making her feel at home no matter where they were. Perhaps she would come to her room and it would be empty. She hoped so.

She hoped they could sort out what was bothering them, and as their friend she wanted to go to check, but she was never one to leave a man behind.

The Major sat like a statue in his seat. From her peripheral vision she could see him eating, and she decided that after today she would only leave to her room when he did to his.

As for the one that made the upsetting comment. If Leslie had not mentioned Claudia, Violet would not have seen the resemblance, but now, there was no mistaking it. Leslie was Claudia's brother, older brother, and Violet would not outright say it, but she preferred her Hodgins' employer over all his older brothers, no matter what anyone said.

She was beginning to see that out of the three, Leslie would cause the most headaches.

Good thing she only had to have dinner with him. Violet decided to focus on cutting her steak and took a bite with excessive chewing. Her eyes once again found the Major's as he bit into his own meal, and he gave her a roguish smile that almost made her spit out her champagne when she took a sip.

 _Stop it._ She mouthed to him.

He just shook his head in mock defeat. _The fiend._

"Now that I got you both together." The Duchess waved her hand in Violet's direction, stealing the attention of the table. "Did you know Darla is going to be in the opera with Irma Fliech in the upcoming show?"

"Who is Irma Fliech my darling?"

"Husband, you embarrass our guest." She playfully hit her husband's chest. "Irma and Darla are the closest of friends. Did you know Violet was the Auto Memories Doll that helped the famous singer?"

"I did not know." Darla spoke up. She had a heavy accent, but an encouraging smile. "I am indebted to you Violet. Ask anything of me and I will see what I can do."

"That is very kind of you."

"Ah, Ah! I know where I've heard of you now!" Leslie waved a finger at Violet. "You're the soldier girl that fought the enemy. The Maiden of some sort yes? Yes, I always wondered why they called you a Maiden is it because you were a little girl or was it because-"

"Shut up Lez." Completely stopped the conversation. "Here's a thought, try to think before you speak next time." It wasn't the Duchess that said that, it was the Major.

"I didn't mean anything by it Gil. It was just a joke. Can't you take a little joke?"

"Did you not hear me?" The Major gritted his teeth, but this time Violet felt it was more than just Leslie. "How you like to hear yourself talk. You're ruining everyone's evening, and I'm losing my patience." Violet had not expected him to continue, and she was just about to step in before it got ugly when someone else entered.

"Is Leslie asking for another sucker punch? I dare say, he was like that at the gala, and I distinctly remember it ended _quite_ badly."

The Dowager opened her arms, "Augustus! My boy!"

Violet swiveled in her seat, only because everyone else did, and she was not disappointed at the newest guest to arrive. While the actress had been stunning to look at. Violet found her mouth falling open, there stood the most glamorous man she had ever seen, and she was not sure what part of him to see first. He had full lips, a strong jaw, and dark coal eyes underneath dark amber brows.

"Mother." The Dowager embraced him, he was dressed in a white replica of Captain Dietfried's uniform, a naval man, but where Dietfried wore it with disdain and brutal attitude, this man was uselessly pretty, the relaxed type, and who seemed to care about nothing because he had that much power or that much ego. He had dimples when he smiled, and his mother made a show of kissing one.

"You didn't tell me you were coming?" The Dowager patted his chest, fixing his naval uniform.

"And miss your pretty smile when I made my entrance." His disastrous smile roved over them all. "And give no entertainment for your guests."

"You didn't say Gus Veridiche was coming," Darla piped up from beside Leslie, her eyes wide and doll-eyed. "We have to meet him."

"It would give me no greater pleasure, you beautiful creature. Welcome to my home," Gus Veridiche sweeped across the room and kissed the actress' hand, almost making the woman swoon, and then he caught Violet watching and winked at her as he laid the kiss.

"Sit down before you hurt yourself." The Major bit out.

"Calm down Major Pirate Sir," Gus saluted him playfully, and went to do just that. "I am your superior now, and my mother's guest the last time I checked."

"Boys behave." The Dowager reminded them, but Violet could sense she was having the time of her life having both sons at the Summer Palace, and the Major no longer in his catatonic shell, and speaking out more now than he had any of the previous nights. It looked like for the Dowager Christmas had come early this year.

"Are you going to say hello to your sister Augustus?" This time it was the Duke, whom had grown incredibly quiet at his brother's appearance. It did not even explain what happened to the Duchess. All the mirth and light she had leaked out of her was gone. She was more ghost now, her hands on her lap, and her eyes glued to her food.

"Forgive me." Gus addressed his brother less calmly than Violet would guess he would. As for brothers they did not act like it. The Duke looked just as murderous as the Major had during Leslie's comment about her being the "Leidenschaftlich's Soldier Maiden."

"Address her Augustus."

For a moment Violet doubted the lovely man would.

But then he looked directly at the Duchess, even when she would not meet his gaze. "Forgive me Duchess, motherhood becomes you."

Violet had not expected Duchess Melanie to immediately jump out of her seat, swiveling out of her husband's grasping hand, and storming out of the room before anyone can call her back.

"Oops." Gus picked up an apple and took a bite out of it.

"You're the devil Augustus."

"You told me to talk to her." He chewed rapidly, and apparently not interested in making more of a scene now that the Duchess was gone. "This is not my fault."

They glared at one another, but Gus relented, eating his apple until there was only the core left. Violet was grateful the Major didn't get in the middle of that argument. She was not in the mood to drag him away from the table when there was already a mysterious battle going on between the Duke and his possibly ungallant younger brother.

The Dowager began cocking her head and _tsking_ away instead of addressing the surprised table, and her feuding sons.

"Well," Leslie whistled. "Way to make an entrance Augustus."

The Duke was the one to dismiss Leslie from the table.

* * *

 **A/N: I'M BACK! (cowers behind hands, peeks through fingers.) I'M SORRY MY WONDERFUL FOLLOWERS! I like to believe my answer is what Noctus Fury told me, when life calls, you answer, am I right? I hope this chapter reeled you back in. I am here to stay guys! I promise, this story will be finished, and can I just say HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to this story! Wow, a year went by when I finished the TV show series for Violet Evergarden, and we are still waiting for this inspiring next season. I don't want to sound like a grumpy teenager when I have kept you guys waiting like this. For the record, I am just as bad. I am so thankful to have you guys have kept supporting, loving, and reviewing to tell me what you guys think. It means the world to me! May you get all the things you wanted this summer and hopefully news on Season 2 for our love of this fandom.**

 **SPECIAL SHOUT-OUT TO:**

 **KennaScripts:** I hope this makes you smile, because I smile every time you leave a review. Thank you so much, and I hope this answered a bit of your questions and gave you more to think about. Feel free to reach out for anything when it comes to this story, or just in general you give me so much positive esteem to keep this story going!

 **Leidenschaftlich:** When I saw your review I could not stop showing it to my little sister. It is so inspiring what you did creating an account just to review and get notifications. It just shows how powerful reviews and support can really be and I appreciate you so much! I hope the creators make the Season 2 better than my story honestly, these two deserve the best love story. I just feel so empowered about love, sacrifice, and friendship when I watch the series, I want that to carry over for the next season. I hope this chapter was to your liking, have a wonderful day.

 **yubima-chan:** You win the Award for Most Faithful Reviewer! I agree I didnt' like when the Major said that either, but these characters have minds of their own. Hope you liked this chapter, look forward to what you think and want for this story! Hope you are doing great!

 **loveajh4ever (Doll Reader):** I completely agree with you. I want this fandom to never die. Thank you for your review!

 **Hatter1999:** I am so sorry if the wait has been terrible! I appreciate your review, and hope this chapter was satisfying! Best regards!

 **DaddysLiitleGirl:** Thank you so much for the review, I feel so excited for what they have in store for Season 2 too!

 **atalanta108:** _I feel the conflict in you! Leon vs. Gilbert, there is great darkness in choosing one or the other._ Sorry, I just watched Star Wars and to be serious now I feel the exact same way. I love them both, if it was me I would love them both up, and I was playing that thought too. I would love to see Leon see Violet again, I was always a fan of them! Hope you liked this chapter, tell me what you think, and thank you for reviewing!

 **Guest #1:** Your wish is my command! I hope you liked this chapter, thanks for reviewing!

 **casedeputy:** Thank you for your appreciation of my story, hope you liked this chapter, and thank you so much for taking the time to review even when it took me forever to update! You rock!

 **YAYYYY! There... it is finished... I am going to go to sleep now, look forward to updating, much faster than the last.**

 **I have no excuses now ;)**

 **All my love,**

 **Odeveca**


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